Black Passing in White America
The novel deals with many aspects of race so to simply boil the theme down to “race” or even “racism” is too restrictive. The experience of being black in white America is touched upon in a variety of different means, most obviously in the special considerations given to those of mixed parentage whose skin was light enough to allow them to pass for white. Following this plot line allows the novel explore this theme from the perspective of being black and white simultaneously in white America.
Ignorance and Paranoia in White America
The most shocking revelation of its exploration of this theme is the often astonishing level of ignorance that permeated through all geographical regions and all social strata of white America. This ignorance created what might be termed a paranoia about integration among many whites whose minds and attitudes had become misshapen by scientific misinformation presented as fact by white segregationists and racist organizations. The paranoia was stimulated by what then appeared to be a perfectly logical and rational belief that intermingling of the “savage” negro blood strain with the “pure” blood of whites would produce an animalistic de-evolution of superior race that had all of civilized history versus jungle living to back up its claims that the blood of slaves and their progeny was inferior.
Alienation from Two Races
Another theme developed on the subject of being black in white America is the ironic paradox that those with skin allowing them to pass for white eventually become alienated from both races. They cannot be true to their black culture in front of the whites who accept them as white; there is a rise in anxiety when among that black culture over the possibility of either being spotted by someone from their white world or meeting someone in their black world who they will one day cross paths with while assuming their white persona.
Sexist Racism
The novel’s focus on the romantic difficulties posed by a black woman passing as white who is to marry a white man become the centerpiece for examining a very particular aspect of being black in white America. The marriage plans crumble when the potential groom spots the woman he plans to marry as “true daughter of her race.” In this case that means succumbing t sensuous impulse by dancing uninhibitedly among her black family and friends. Uninhibitedly in this case simply meaning not dancing in an uptight white cotillion sort of way, but rather just enjoying the rhythms of the music. This scene speaks to an underlying tension of sexist attitudes within the larger dynamic of racism: all black woman are possessed of an uncontrollable sexual urge that eventually manifests itself only because they lack the self-control and concerned with image that their white sister naturally possess.
