In Transition

In reviewing the passing narratives we have thus far explored, I realize that the people who are passing are often first presented to us in the transition or in transit. For example:

We first see Pinky walking back to her grandmother’s house.

We first meet John Walden in the neutral space of a hotel before he too walks to his childhood home.

We first see Brandon as he is assuming his male identity.

We first see Tony as he struts down the street.

The list goes on. This illustrates the in-betweeness Piper so eloquently speaks about in her article. Though Piper chooses not to pass she cannot help initially doing so simply by virtue of her skin color when first meeting people. Passers are always aware that they are both what they are and what they want to be/people believe them to be; they are always moving between the destination and the place left behind. It is only in negating one aspect of themselves that they can find a context. Pinky, Rena, and Piper, for example chose or were forced to deny the white/’false’ identity in order to find a comfortable geographic and emotional space. People like Clare, John, and Brandon choose to embrace the ‘false’ identity to find their comfortable space. Both groups, however, do violence to themselves. They are all both black and white, man and woman, the sophisticate and the less refined counterpart, as the case may be. By choosing one part of themselves over the other, they rip themselves asunder and are all in fact passing. What exactly they are passing as is imply a matter of perspective. John believes he  is white and simply passing as black, and Pinky believes the reverse is true for herself. Passing is only successful, however, when the individual (as in John’s case) believes in the authenticity of the self he adopts. The vast majority are unlike John and believe more in the authenticity of society; this is why they often return home. In the complex process of identity making, society usually emerges victorious. When it does, in the case of racial passing the person appears brave. The reverse is true for all other types of passing.Brandon and Stephanie, for example, appear brave for asserting their own individual identity. Why this should be so I leave you to think about.