Blackness as an Abstract Concept

Since the era of slavery in the United States being Black has been stigmatized. Blackness brought pain, suffering, subordination, and the eternal struggle. The history of Blacks in America has also been one of suffering, especially in the Southern states. Lynching, segregation, Jim Crow, violence and racism in its many forms became part of the African American experience. Society had harsh reactions towards Blackness. These attitudes began to affect the Black psyche.

Black is defined as, “angry, threatening, wicked, sinister, and deadly”. The strong abhorrence society had for blackness so

. . .
She ststed, “Negro society…was as complicated and as rigid in its ramifications as the highest strata of high society.

The most obvious is that of Clare Kendry, who wishes to have “her cake and eat it too”. Larsen leaves the ambiguity of Clare’s death to show that it only existed in her life and is not conquered in death. Passing was a form of deceit yet all she wanted was a better life. DuBois penned these feelings perfectly in his sociological masterpiece The Souls of Black Folks:

Why did God make me an outcast and a stranger in mine own house…

After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and

Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted

with a second-sight in this American world, - a world which yields him no

true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the

revelations of the other world…this double consciousness, this sense… of

measuring one’s soul by the tape of the world that looks on in amused

contempt and pity. Irene also secretly envied Clare because she passed. Irene warned her about passing especially in Black Haven, Harlem. She has not passed because she hopes her children will have a better life than hers. She had the features to pull of the life-changing stunt. Helga stated:

She hated white people with a deep and burned hatred…But she aped the clothes, their manners, and their gracious ways of living. She is drawn to Harlem, the crux of Black bourgeoisie. Irene always describes Clare and at one time describes, “the soft white, the bright hair, the disturbing scarlet mouth, the dreaming eyes, the caressing smile, the whole tortured loveliness that had been Clare Kendry” (Quicksand XXIX). With his long, nervous fingers he picked up the morning paper from his own chair and sat. After all these events, to now wish to identify with her blackness was a deathtrap.

Common topics in this essay:
Ham Helga, Ann Grey, Clare Kendry, Quicksand XXIX, African American, XXV Irene, Mongolian Negro, Anne Audrey, Rockefellers Clare, Uncle Peter, clare kendry, clare passed, african american, black community, black woman, chair sat, life clare, race woman, black white, mixed heritage,

Approximate Word count = 1545
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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