Is Clare Kendry from the book "Passing" a Typical Tragic Mulatta? (eBook)

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Amerikanistik), course: Racial Passing in Literature, language: English, abstract: This research paper will focus on "The Tragic Mulatta" in relation to Nella Larsen’s book "Passing" and will examine if Clare Kendry is a typical Tragic Mulatta or not.It is a well-known fact that there are a lot of stereotypes which developed over time, especially in the minds of people and in literature. For example the so called "Blackface", "The Uncle Tom", "The Coon", "The Mammy", "The Brutal Black Buck" and last but not least "The Tragic Mulatta". To this end the definition of this stereotype has to be considered: Dr. David Pilgrim, a Professor of Sociology defines "The Tragic Mulatta" as a female character with white appearance but also containing black blood, who could easily pass for white. A second fact included in the definition of Dr. Pilgrim is, that those Mulattas were often not aware of their black heritage and when they found out tragically committed suicide.

Another definition declares that the Mulattas always deny and "abandon their black families". They are also considered to be very seductive and sexual. Some definitions even say "they find only peace in death and live a life of alcoholism, depressions and sexual perversion" because they have a feeling of not being accepted in either of the two worlds. In the following paragraphs the fact will be proved that Clare Kendry is a typical Tragic Mulatta.