LITERATURE QUESTIONS
AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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She almost died in childbirth with her first child.
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She doesn’t want to lose her figure.
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Her husband has threatened to leave her.
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She is afraid it may have dark skin.
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Detailed explanation-1: -Clare and Gertrude discuss their fear during pregnancy that their own Blackness would be revealed to the world if their children were born with skin darker than theirs. Irene has a dark son, but by marrying Brian and staying in the Black world, she has insulated herself from any danger of discovery.
Detailed explanation-2: -Larsen’s Passing Irene fears and hates any kind of want or desire, and that fear strongly plays into her narrative. Her interactions with her husband, Brian, echo this theme, as she constantly quashes his wants and needs in the name of making responsible decisions.
Detailed explanation-3: -Margery is Clare and John Bellew’s daughter. She is a light-skinned young girl who attends school in Switzerland. Larsen never introduces Margery to the reader, but the other characters discuss her frequently.
Detailed explanation-4: -Clare’s experience growing up with her white aunts, who treated her as a servant, directly impacts Clare’s initial desire towards whiteness. Hence, she passes as a white woman, marries a white man, and forgets her African-American culture.
Detailed explanation-5: -Summary: Part Three: Chapter Three Felise is amused to have caught Irene “passing, ” but Irene is irritated that she did not take the opportunity to introduce Bellew as “Clare’s husband.” Her loyalty to her race again got in the way. She thinks of informing Clare of the meeting, but she has no safe way to do so.