Passing

by

Nella Larsen

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Passing makes teaching easy.

Masks

At several points throughout the novel, Larsen describes Clare’s face as an “ivory” mask. Larsen uses this description particularly when Irene feels that Clare is using her social grace to obscure her true feelings…

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Doorways, Windows, Thresholds

Throughout Passing, Larsen’s characters stand in doorways or linger around thresholds. These doorways and thresholds serve to physically represent the story’s attention to liminality (the idea of being in between two distinct spaces). The…

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