How 'Passing' and similar stories force us to reckon with identity

The word "passing" has historically referred to mixed-race Americans without disposable African ancestry who posed arsenic White to flight oppression oregon to summation entree to societal and economical benefits. Since the 19th century, writers some Black and White person explored the improvement done their enactment -- Hall's movie adaptation of "Passing" is the latest specified task successful a agelong canon of stories connected the topic.

For Hall, the taxable of passing is idiosyncratic -- her maternal gramps was an African American antheral who passed arsenic White for overmuch of his life. Larsen's novel, and the process of adapting it for the screen, helped her marque consciousness of her family's analyzable history, she said.

"The enactment of passing calls into question the worldly we speech astir erstwhile we accidental contention is simply a societal conception and what that means," the English writer-director told CNN. "But underneath that construct, it besides points retired however almighty it is and however existent and quality it is to agelong to beryllium portion of a category, adjacent if it is limiting."

Stories astir passing person a agelong history

The archetypal stories astir passing successful African American lit are astir radical who fled enslavement, said Alisha Gaines, an subordinate prof of English astatine Florida State University.

In 1892, the abolitionist Frances E. W. Harper published the caller "Iola Leroy," a communicative astir the girl of a White enslaver who upon her father's death, learns that she has African ancestry and is subsequently sold into slavery. When she is yet freed, she embraces her Black individuality and dedicates herself to bettering the circumstances of her people.

While aboriginal narratives depicted passing arsenic a means of survival, the stakes started to alteration successful the aboriginal 20th period arsenic shown done works similar Larsen's "Passing."

By that time, Gaines said, passing had go a conveyance done which to get privilege and security. Authors penning astir passing began considering murkier questions -- what it meant to beryllium loyal to one's race, what was the worth of Whiteness and what was mislaid erstwhile a idiosyncratic decided to pass. And it wasn't conscionable Black authors taking connected the subject. White writers wrote astir passing, excessively -- notably, Fannie Hurst whose 1933 caller "Imitation of Life" was adapted doubly for film.

Many of these aboriginal passing narratives followed a acquainted storyline. Deploying a trope known arsenic the "tragic mulatto," a Black quality (usually a woman) would opt to walk for White -- lone to find themselves unhappy successful their caller life. Caught betwixt 2 worlds, the quality would yet conscionable a tragic destiny -- a punishment of sorts for their deception.

But arsenic clip went on, modern authors enactment their ain stamp connected passing stories, defying the conventions of the genre and flipping bushed narratives connected their head, from Danzy Senna's "Caucasia" successful 1998 to Brit Bennett's 2020 bestselling caller and soon-to-be TV bid "The Vanishing Half."

"Why we tin hint them passim clip is due to the fact that the questions astir who is acceptable to beryllium a national are underlying each of them," Gaines said. "Who gets to unrecorded the alleged American Dream?"

They constituent to the messiness of race

Part of our fascination with passing stories stems from the pivotal relation that contention has played successful the US since its founding, said Yaba Blay, a student and writer of "One Drop: Shifting the Lens connected Race."

"Our nine -- successful overmuch of the mode that it has been structured historically and contemporarily -- is precise overmuch built and founded and grounded and structured connected the notions of contention arsenic an important determinant of one's individuality due to the fact that it's besides a determinant of one's presumption successful society," said Blay.

But for each our fixation connected race, our nine lacks a wide knowing of what contention really is, she added. The US has historically operated nether a Black and White model of race, arsenic though a person's radical individuality could beryllium determined simply by assessing the colour of their skin. As the rape of enslaved women astatine the hands of their enslavers threatened to muddle the nation's radical hierarchy, the "one driblet rule" emerged arsenic an reply -- meaning that a mixed-race idiosyncratic with known African ancestry was to beryllium considered Black.

"Passing" -- and stories astir passing -- destabilize those rigid categories of contention and item their inherent contradictions, Blay said. If a idiosyncratic who is ostensibly Black according to the prescribed definitions is capable to transverse the alleged colour enactment and walk themselves disconnected arsenic White, it calls into question the full conception of race.

"If there's powerfulness and privilege isolated successful Whiteness and you person the imaginable to perchance get it, past what is race?" Blay said. "What is simply a radical identity?"

That thought of contention arsenic some fictional and existent is what Brit Bennett wanted to research erstwhile she acceptable retired to constitute "The Vanishing Half." The caller focuses connected 2 identical duplicate sisters, Desiree and Stella, whose paths diverge dramatically: Desiree marries a dark-skinned Black antheral and gives commencement to a likewise dark-skinned daughter, portion Stella leaves down her household to walk for White. The choices they marque extremity up shaping the trajectories of their lives and of their children's.

"I kept coming backmost to the inherent absurdity of the thought that contention tin beryllium successfully performed, but astatine the aforesaid time, the implications of contention and of racism are felt generations deep," Bennett told CNN. "They travel radical from the cradle to the grave."

"The Vanishing Half" and different passing stories resonate due to the fact that they situation the ways we deliberation astir identity, Bennett said. They propulsion against our instincts to swiftly categorize radical and unit america to beryllium with the discomfort of those categories being blurrier than we imagined. That the quality of Stella is capable to alteration into a White pistillate conscionable due to the fact that radical presume truthful -- and that she would take to spell on with it -- is simply a world that's hard to comprehend.

"There is thing astir that that becomes fascinating to readers and to audiences -- to spot characters that are challenging those categories that we instrumentality arsenic given, to spot characters propulsion backmost astatine these labels that we delegate precise rapidly and easy erstwhile we brushwood radical successful the world," she added.

Conversations astir contention successful the US person evolved since the epoch of the "one-drop rule," said Gaines. Institutions and forms present let america to place successful much elaborate ways, and an expanding fig of radical are claiming multiracial identities. Waves of immigrants from non-European countries person contributed to a much analyzable understanding, too.

"We're starting to person much analyzable conversations wherever we recognize that the binary is not conscionable Black and White," Gaines said. "But we're inactive a enactment successful progress."

The unit for radical to "choose a side," however, hasn't faded, she added -- meaning the questions explored successful stories astir passing stay applicable arsenic ever.

They let america to ideate different possibilities

In a federation truthful consumed with individuality politics, it's possibly nary astonishment that stories that situation the precise conception of those identities would resonate.

Allyson Hobbs, an subordinate prof of past astatine Stanford University and the writer of "A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing successful American Life," said we're drawn to stories astir passing due to the fact that truthful often, nine dictates who we are and who we should be.

"There's thing astir American nine that's been precise invested successful maintaining, enforcing, legalizing these radical categories oregon sex categories oregon intersexual predisposition categories oregon categories dealing with citizenship presumption that don't really correspond the ways that radical really acquisition and unrecorded their lives," she said.

Through characters who manipulate those identities for their ain ends, we tin ideate different possibilities successful which we cull those labels and instrumentality power of our ain destinies, Hobbs said. These narratives besides resonate due to the fact that of the assorted ways successful which radical person sought to flight the confines of their identities passim history, she said -- from Jewish radical changing their names to get into colleges to women disguising themselves arsenic men to unrecorded the lives they wanted.

At the bosom of passing stories are cosmopolitan questions of identity: How we marque consciousness of ourselves and however we make our ain realities. Those questions proceed to permeate our society.

"Passing is truly overmuch much cosmopolitan than we deliberation of it arsenic being," Hobbs said. "We often deliberation astir it arsenic a Black idiosyncratic passing arsenic White, and we don't truly recognize that successful fact, each of america walk successful immoderate mode astatine immoderate time."

It's a thought besides voiced by the quality Irene successful "Passing," erstwhile a White antheral she's friends with asks her wherefore she excessively hasn't chosen to pass.

"We're each of america passing for thing oregon other," she muses during the film. "Aren't we?"