＂불가해성＂과 중산층 의식--넬라 라슨의 『백인행세 』

Abstract

Being middle class members of the society was, in the age of Harlem Renaissance, unprecedented experience in the history of Afro-Americans. The period Nella Larsen represented in Passing, witnessed materialistic expansions and the rise of black middle class. So to appreciate the black experience as such, one needs to read and focus on black consciousness facing the gradual class divisions among blacks and the desire to secure that incipient middle class uplift. The main character of the novel, Irene Redfield, was at first seemingly quite assured of her being black and of her middle class security as well. However, the novel poignantly reveals her self-confidence as such is doomed to be vaporized in the presence of "ambiguously raced figure," Clare. Irene's middle class consciousness has conceptualized other black individuals as a monolithic entity not allowing their individuality. Subsequently, she was first attracted by Clare's peculiar, inscrutable African character. But Irene's growing sense of failure to comprehend this inscrutable trait of Clare's made her entrapped and eventually decide not to permit Clare's presence into her life. Irene's true predicament lies in her disability to perceive Clare's individuality, which was naturally there from the very beginning of their relationship. It seems that there has inherent similarity between Irene's desire of ostracizing Clare out of her middle class life, and John Bellew's futile desire of not having any blacks in his home. Irene is an accomplice with Bellew in a sense that she claims her cherished middle class stability by marginalizing "inscrutableness" of the black being. As the novelist of Harlem Renaissance, Larsen has represented the reality that black middle class consciousness was involved in the white dominant discourse to the critical extent.