One of the most interesting aspects of the early 20th century was the idea of “passing,” or the ability of a black American to pass as white according to the perceptions of society. Nella Larsen was a prominent biracial author who wrote the novel Passing, which explores the lives of two women: Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry. Larsen uses the two to explore not just the idea of passing in the lives of Irene and Clare, but also racial identity, motherhood, gender roles, and more. Larsen consistently uses vivid imagery throughout the book to demonstrate how Clare uses her physical appearance and body language to manipulate Irene and her husband, John Bellew, and assert her power over them, though this power is incredibly fragile.

Larsen uses aural imagery surrounding Clare’s appearance to first indicate how Clare manipulates Irene. From the onset of their interactions with one another, Clare establishes control when she “command[s]” Irene “no, no, don’t get up”, thus asserting power over Irene from their first conversation (Larsen 12). This is seen through Larsen’s use of the imperative tense for Clare’s command to Irene, rather than framing it as a request. From here, Clare’s hidden manipulations strengthen, and a primary example of this is near the beginning of the book. Irene notes that when Clare was talking to her, “her words swept over [her] in charming well-modulated streams” (Larsen 27). Larsen’s use of the phrase “well-modulated” indicates that everything Clare says to Irene is intentional and thoughtful, demonstrating that she is in control of the conversation, and is only allowing them to discuss what Clare wishes. Larsen even mentions how after a few minutes of conversation, “Irene felt her resentment changing gradually to a silent, somewhat grudging admiration,” showing how Clare’s conversational skills can manipulate others’ opinions of her and change them from resentful to admiring (Larsen 28). Overall, Larsen employs aural imagery for demonstrating how Clare enchants and manipulates people to assert power over them.

Larsen further uses imagery to indicate that the power Clare gains over Irene through passing is fragile. When in discussion with Irene, Clare gains Irene’s pity when her “dark eyes glistened and there was a suspicion of a quaver in the husky voice,” but the moment she gets her pity,  “all indication of tears had gone for her eyes and voice, and … behind what was now only an ivory mask lurked a scornful amusement” (Larsen 17). Here, Larsen uses imagery encompassing Clare’s eyes and voice to demonstrate how Clare manipulates her appearance first to incite sympathy when Irene is starting to withdraw from her, and then to mock Irene at how easily the other woman is fooled by Clare. This analysis of Larsen’s use of imagery is backed up by analyses from scholars such as Jennifer DeVere Brody, who writes in her essay “Clare Kendry’s True Colors: Race and Class Conflict in Nella Larsen’s Passing” that through Clare’s use of her “ivory mask”, she is not only able to “[grin] and [smile] in the face of hateful whites (and Irene)” but “[appropriate] white power and [use] it to her advantage” (Larsen 17; Brody 397). Clare not only understands the inherent power that light-skinned Americans have in their society but uses that to her advantage by asserting that same power—which she appropriates using her light skin tone—over Irene. However, the use of the phrase “ivory mask” reveals that the mask that Clare puts up is not only precious but easily breakable, similar to ivory itself. This ultimately demonstrates that while Clare does gain power through passing, this power is an illusion and simple to destroy.

Larsen also uses visual imagery to indicate Clare’s manipulations of Bellew and how Clare’s passing maintains a skewed power dynamic between the two. From the start of Irene’s introduction to Clare’s husband, Irene notes that “in Clare’s eyes, as she presented her husband, was a queer gleam, a jeer, it might be” (Larsen 28). The reasoning behind this imagery surrounding Clare’s eyes becomes obvious when Irene realizes that Clare’s husband believes Clare to be white, not black. Larsen is thus able to reveal the power dynamic between the married couple; while not obvious, Clare has the power in their relationship because her constant lies have allowed her to make a fool of him. This is underpinned by the poem “We Wear The Mask”, by Paul Dunbar—an African-American poet who wrote during the same time period as Nella Larsen—in which he writes that “We wear the mask that grins and lies / it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes… Why should the world be overwise / in counting all our tears and sighs” (Dunbar 1-2; 6-7). Dunbar’s understanding of masks—that they are used to hide people’s true emotions and keep the world blind to their real emotions—connects to Larsen’s use of Clare’s skin color as her mask. Clare thus exemplifies this idea of wearing an “ivory mask” because she refuses to let anyone “count her tears and sighs” and, instead, constantly lies to her husband about her race, allowing her to assert power over him. The power dynamics between Clare and Bellew can thus be understood through Larsen’s utilization of visual imagery.

However, Larsen also explains that the power Clare has over her husband is frail and could be destroyed in a heartbeat. This is understood through their interactions, where Larsen writes that Clare “smiled on him, and her smile seemed to transform him, to soften and mellow him” (Larsen 30). Larsen uses visual imagery here to show how Clare “softens” her husband and gets him to treat her friends better through her looks, but she would be unable to do so if he knew her true race. In fact, when her husband discovers she is black, Irene notes that Clare “seemed unaware of any danger or uncaring. There was even a faint smile on her full, red lips, and in her shining eyes” (Larsen 79). Clare’s “ivory mask” is evident in this situation, as evidenced by the visual imagery around her “shining eyes”, “faint smile”, and “full lips” even in such a precarious situation, but unlike in the former scene, in which her smile mellowed her husband, any power she once had over her husband from her appearance is gone. Bellew knows that she made a fool of him. Jennifer Brody specifies in her essay that “Clare uses her ‘ivory mask’ as a decoy to distract her adversaries and to allow her to infiltrate hostile territories,” further supporting the idea that while Clare acknowledges the power she gains through her mask, it is easily shattered like ivory and once broken, is irreparable (Brody 400). Larsen’s visual imagery thus exemplifies Clare’s manipulations of her husband and exhibits that the power one gains from passing is delicate.

Larsen tackles the concept of passing through her book Passing, in which she uses vivid imagery to demonstrate how Clare Kendry uses her body language and physical appearance to manipulate those around her and assert power over them. However, Larsen also denotes that Clare’s hold over others is tenuous, and a single word of her true race would reveal that her power is rather a delicate, easily-destructible illusion. This not only applies to Clare and Irene’s lives, but to the concept of passing, which was heavily debated by both white and black Americans as they struggled to come to terms with new understandings of race. Larsen allows readers to realize that passing is not only shallow, but fragile, and dangerous for those discovered, ultimately warning her readers away from doing such a thing.

Works Cited

Brody, Jennifer Devere. “Clare Kendry’s ‘True’ Colors: Race and Class Conflict in Nella Larsen’s Passing.” Callaloo, vol. 15, no. 4, 1992, p. 1053., doi:10.2307/2931920.

Dunbar, Paul Laurence. “We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44203/we-wear-the-mask.

Larsen, Nella, and Carla Kaplan. Passing: Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, about Nella Larsen, Criticism. W.W. Norton & Co., 2006.

Patel, Anya. Personal Interview, 8 March 2021.

Paull, Jennifer. Personal Interview, 5 March 2021.

Willrich, Sarah. Personal Interview, 6 March 2021.