“Brian, she was thinking, was
extremely good-looking. Not, of course, pretty or effeminate; the slight
irregularity of his nose saved him from the prettiness, and the rather marked
heaviness of his chin saved him from the effeminacy. But he was, in a pleasant
masculine way, rather handsome. And yet, wouldn't he, perhaps, have been merely
ordinarily good-looking but for the richness, the beauty of his skin, which was
of an exquisitely fine texture and deep copper color”-(Larsen 54)
Though throughout this
section of Nella Larsen’s Passing we
see that Irene and Brian’s marriage is not without its problems, here Irene
admits to herself her husband’s beauty. On the surface, this is a quote about
beauty and its relation to skin color, a topic which comes back later in the
section, during which Irene discusses the same topic with Mr. Wentworth. In a
way, according to Irene, skin color adds something exotic to a person,
politically incorrect as that sounds today. It makes a person more interesting,
and in the 1920s, during which this book is set, people were fascinated by the
new and unfamiliar. Still, this passage is more than skin deep- it shows a
richer, deeper cultural connection within the African-American community and
the Redfields’ lives.
This passage does carry
with it a racial undertone. Brian’s blackness is what makes him beautiful and
not just “good-looking.” The way in which Larsen describes this quality lends
it something much deeper- it is a “richness,” which for me correlates with the
richness of the African-American culture to which Brian and Irene belong. They
have a connection with their community that Clare Kendry lacks and yearns for.
She is disconnected from her own culture and trapped within that of the white
world, which could be viewed in light of this passage as just “good,” but
lacking in the roots and vibrancy of the
cultural world of her birth. It is blackness which brings with it this
richness, and it is this that Clare is seeking to find a link to.
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