Nella Larsen's Passing (and racial identity)

"The daughter, Margery, had been left in Switzerland in school..." p.82-83

We don't know much about Clare's daughter except that Clare was thankful her daughter was light-skinned and that Clare intended for her daughter to be an only child because she could not imagine going through the stress of pregnancy again not knowing if another child would be fair or dark.

๐˜ฟ๐™ค ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ˆ๐™–๐™ง๐™œ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™ฃ ๐™ง๐™–๐™˜๐™ž๐™–๐™ก ๐™ž๐™™๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฎ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™™ ๐™—๐™š๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™š ๐™– ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™—๐™ก๐™š๐™ข ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™›๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ง๐™š?

What some of our members thought:

"She was living a life of passing without knowing she was living a life of passing." -E

"What would her and her future husbandโ€™s reactions be if she had a dark child? Would she be accused of having an affair with a black man?" -C

"Would her father tell her after.he found out? Would he reject her when he realized that she was part black?" -G

"I do think that could become a very serious problem! It is mentioned that the dark skin could skip generations and just suddenly show up - if Margery didnโ€™t know, and if her children were all light-skinned and then a grandchild is dark, can you imagine the reactions of those parents? Accusations of cheating, to say the least! I wonโ€™t even go into the scene between her and her โ€œfatherโ€ should he decide to tell her. Or her feelings upon finding out who she is, herself. They donโ€™t say much about her personality; what if she learned prejudice from listening to her father? Would she be able to come to terms with her own identity after learning the truth?" -L