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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Part 2, Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Safe!:
In this passage, which comes from the heated argument between Clare and Irene in Chapter 2, Larsen employs a motif to show Clare’s complicated relationship to safety. Clare snaps at Irene:
"'Safe!' It seemed to Irene that Clare had snapped her teeth down on the word and then flung it from her. And for another flying second she had that suspicion of Clare’s ability for a quality of feeling that was to her strange, and even repugnant. She was aware, too, of a dim premonition of some impending disaster. It was as if Clare Kendry had said to her, for whom safety, security, were all-important: 'Safe! Damn being safe!' and meant it.
Related Themes:
Part 2, Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Harlem Vocabulary:
Larsen uses the motif of colloquial expressions from early 20th-century Harlem English to enhance Passing's realism for the reader. In this passage, Irene and Hugh discuss the unusual experience of meeting a white woman passing as Black. Irene says:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Well, take my own experience with Dorothy Thompkins. I’d met her four or five times, in groups and crowds of people, before I knew she wasn’t a Negro. One day I went to an awful tea, terribly dicty. Dorothy was there. We got talking. In less than five minutes, I knew she was ‘fay.’ Not from anything she did or said or anything in her appearance. Just—just something. A thing that couldn’t be registered.
Related Themes:
