Passing and Racism in Charles Chesnutt’s The House Behind the Cedars
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As a precursor of the discourse on the issue of race and passing in America, Charles Chesnutt, in his novel The House Behind the Cedars, argues that racial blending might help solve the race problem in America. Employing the trope of passing, he represents two siblings, John and Rena, who take different positions on passing for a white and end up living a different life. John pursues his own dream by passing as a white, leaving his family in poverty and distress, whereas Rena returns home after a brief period of passing as a white woman when she decides to work for the black community. Chesnutt’s narrative demonstrates the fluidity of the border of racial identity in the person of the passing figure in which he or she holds two sides of identity that can pass for either race. He criticizes the evil practice allowed under the name of law that has caused such social turmoils. Through the passing trope, Chesnutt represents the sheerly artificial constructedness of the discourse of race and tries to dismantle white racial supremacy. By making Rena die as a tragic mulatto at the end of the novel, Chesnutt demonstrates the powerful forces of racial prejudices inflicted on black persons of mixed blood.
Abstract
As a precursor of the discourse on the issue of race and passing in America, Charles Chesnutt, in his novel The House Behind the Cedars, argues that racial blending might help solve the race problem in America. Employing the trope of passing, he represents two siblings, John and Rena, who take different positions on passing for a white and end up living a different life. John pursues his own dream by passing as a white, leaving his family in poverty and distress, whereas Rena returns home after a brief period of passing as a white woman when she decides to work for the black community. Chesnutt’s narrative demonstrates the fluidity of the border of racial identity in the person of the passing figure in which he or she holds two sides of identity that can pass for either race. He criticizes the evil practice allowed under the name of law that has caused such social turmoils. Through the passing trope, Chesnutt represents the sheerly artificial constructedness of the discourse of race and tries to dismantle white racial supremacy. By making Rena die as a tragic mulatto at the end of the novel, Chesnutt demonstrates the powerful forces of racial prejudices inflicted on black persons of mixed blood.
참고문헌 (15)
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