In class blog on Marriage, Intimacy, and Adaptation:
For this blog. class review, we will focus on distinctions between the novel and the film (focus on the novel), intimacy, and the political implications of Clare and Irene’s respective marriages and create in the class blog posts.

From Tate, Claudia. Domestic Allegories of Political Desire: The Black Heroine’s Text at the Turn of the Century. : Oxford University Press.

“[It is my intention] to identify the idealized domesticity in these novels (about marriage and the marriage plot) as a fundamental cultural symbol of the Victorian era for representing civil ambition and prosperity as a ninetheenth-century ‘metonym for proper social order,’ a symbol that black women writers in particular used to promote social advancement” (Tate, 15).

Useful Defintions

domesticity: home or family life

19th century: means 1800s (the Harlem Renaissance is in the 1910s-1930s

symbol: an object, a person, a situation, or an action that has a literal meaning in a story but suggests or represents other meanings.

metonym: a figure of speech in which one object or idea takes the place of another with which it has a close association. In fact, metonymy means “change of name.” As a literary device, it is a way of replacing an object or idea with something related to it instead of stating what is actually meant.

 

Class Discussion:using the passage above: What is marriage in Passing (1929)?

1. Skim Chapter Three, pp. 51-80 from the “Enounter” section (Focus on Jack) OR Chapter One, pp. 87-108 from “Rencounter” (focus on Brian).
2. In chat or in person, note which chapter would you like to fcosu on.
3. Divide into groups of 3-4 bases on interest
4. In groups, take notes and write 4 point summary the major events (e.g. plot) of the selected chapter.
5. In groups, list at least 3 major differences between those scenes in the film and the novel (with corresponding quotations and page citations).
6. Then in the same groups, list 3 major consistencies or dialogue that is exactly the same as the novel (with corresponding quotations, and page citations).
7. In 200 words or more, create individual blog posts based on summary, list, and groups conversations. Please include at least one form of media and TWO quotations from the novel in your response to ONE of the following questions: Is the film Passing (2021) is a good adaption of Nella Larsen’s novel Passing (1929) and why OR if the two are different, what do we get from the novel and what do we get from the film? Be sure to use the category “Passing” in your blog post. Also, be clear in your writing and distinguish when you are referring to the film Passing (2021) directed by Rebecca Hall versus when referring to the film and Passing (1929) by Nella Larsen when referring to the novel.