How 'Passing' and similar stories force us to reckon with identity

Rebecca Hall's adaptation of Nella Larsen's 1929 novel is one of many stories -- like "Imitation of Life" and "The Vanishing Half" -- that tackle the subject. Though instances of passing don't appear to be as common today, our interest in the phenomenon endures.

The friend is Clare Kendry, a light-skinned Black woman who for years has been living as White. Since the two reconnected during a chance encounter in Chicago, Clare has been writing to Irene in hopes of meeting again and fulfilling a desire to be among Black people once more. Irene, who is also fair-skinned but lives a firmly Black middle class life in Harlem, is irritated that Clare wants it both ways -- having acquired the privileges of Whiteness, she now longs for the community of Blackness.