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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Part 2, Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Safe!:
In this passage, which comes from the heated argument between Clare and Irene in Chapter 2, Larsen employs a motif to show Clare’s complicated relationship to safety. Clare snaps at Irene:
"'Safe!' It seemed to Irene that Clare had snapped her teeth down on the word and then flung it from her. And for another flying second she had that suspicion of Clare’s ability for a quality of feeling that was to her strange, and even repugnant. She was aware, too, of a dim premonition of some impending disaster. It was as if Clare Kendry had said to her, for whom safety, security, were all-important: 'Safe! Damn being safe!' and meant it.
The motif of desire being necessarily entwined with risk appears wherever Clare does in the novel. Among other things, it works to highlight the fundamental differences between Clare and Irene's personalities. Clare's rejection of stability and safety is necessary for her to live a life where she’s constantly "passing." She is only safe in her marriage if she continues to do the unsafe work of "passing" as white and concealing her past. This passage shows her willingness to embrace danger to fulfill her desires. This attitude, it should be noted, stands in stark contrast to Irene's obsession with stability and security. Clare's disdain for safety is not only reckless, but also threatens Irene's carefully constructed sense of order. Passages like this one reveal how Clare's reckless pursuit of what she wants begins to destabilize everything Irene holds dear.
The motif as it appears here also points to the deep, complex relationship between Clare and Irene, which many readers see as being romantic and/or sexual. Irene's inability to resist her attraction to Clare in any circumstances introduces uncertainty into her life. Her need for Clare forces her to confront feelings that jeopardize her own security. She’s horrified when Brian and Clare begin an affair, but she herself is also completely obsessed with Clare. There are risks, in the world of Passing, that come from every possible way of "passing" through the world.
Related Themes:
Part 2, Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Harlem Vocabulary:
Larsen uses the motif of colloquial expressions from early 20th-century Harlem English to enhance Passing's realism for the reader. In this passage, Irene and Hugh discuss the unusual experience of meeting a white woman passing as Black. Irene says:
Well, take my own experience with Dorothy Thompkins. I’d met her four or five times, in groups and crowds of people, before I knew she wasn’t a Negro. One day I went to an awful tea, terribly dicty. Dorothy was there. We got talking. In less than five minutes, I knew she was ‘fay.’ Not from anything she did or said or anything in her appearance. Just—just something. A thing that couldn’t be registered.
The Black community of New York has a vibrant and longstanding linguistic tradition, which Larsen celebrates throughout the novel. Her use of words like "dicty," meaning snobbish or condescending, and "fay," Harlem slang for a white person derived from the Latin word for "foe," immerses the reader in the social environment of Harlem during the early 20th century. It enables them to get a sense of how people might have actually sounded as they communicated.
The passage also thinks carefully about the complexities of identity within the Black and white worlds of New York. Usually when people "pass" in this society, it’s Black people passing in the white world for their own safety or benefit. Irene's realization that Dorothy is white—which isn’t based on any overt action or appearance but rather on "just something"—shows how complicated and insidious the racial dynamics of the period were. By describing Dorothy as "fay," a slang word specific to the Black community of Harlem, Irene emphasizes her own Blackness while decrying the other woman’s whiteness.
Related Themes:
