The Genetics of “Passing”
Passing is a term not quite as popular as it used to be now that it is not quite as necessary as it used to be. The term refers to light-skinned “blacks passing as white” among mainstream American society. Although racism has hardly disappeared, passing is no longer as necessary to get ahead in America as it once was and the level of that necessity helps to explain the thought processing of a black man like the following:
“She was pregnant then with their first child, and he imagined his children’s children’s children, lighter still, like a cup of coffee steadily diluted with cream. A more perfect Negro. Each generation lighter than the one before.”
Twins
The story is about twin sisters. And there is something about being a twin that 97% of the rest of population will simply never be able to understand. Desiree and Stella could give some lessons on the strangeness of that relationship:
“This was how Desiree thought of herself then: the single dynamic force in Stella’s life, a gust of wind strong enough to rip out her roots. This was the story Desiree needed to tell herself and Stella allowed her to. They both felt safe inside it.”
Stella
Stella does an incredible job of passing because she goes all-in. The secret to successfully passing is not so much skin color, but attitude. To pass as white in mainstream America requires a lot more than simple pigmentation, especially in the time period covered in the book. You have to sell everybody on the mindset and Stella excels:
“She was jumpy around Negroes, like a child who’d been bit by a dog.”
Stella’s Daughter
Perhaps no single threat capable of exposing a woman who is successfully passing is greater than pregnancy. Genetics is a funny thing that is not always predictable. That image of steadily diluting coffee does not always apply. Even intercourse with the palest of men is no guarantee that the truth won’t literally come out nine months later:
“The newborn in her arms was perfect: milky skin, wavy blonde hair, and eyes so blue they looked violet. Still, sometimes, Kennedy felt like a daughter who belonged to someone else, a child Stella was borrowing while she loaned a life that never should have been hers.”
A Town Called Mallard
Desiree and Stella come from a town in Louisiana called Mallard. But, of course, Kennedy could never be told this by Stella, at least not when she was old enough to actually recall it. But she did mention it once, when she thought Kennedy was too young to remember. Stella’s assumption turned out to be only half-right:
“After that night, she never tried to search for the town again. It would be something that she would always know she was right about but could never prove, like people who swore they’d seen Elvis wandering around the grocery store, knocking on the melons.”
