The novel Passing reveals that Brian was forced to be a doctor because of Irene. Brian reveals he doesn’t like sick people in the novel similarly to the way he revealed his dislike for the sick in the movie. “I hate sick people, and they’re stupid meddling families, as smelly, dirty rooms…” Brain expressed on page 98. This initiated a fight because Irene doesn’t want to know that her husband doesn’t like sick people. She would much rather live in a fantasy world where control equals comfort for her. “Let’s not talk about it, please,” Brian said to silence Irene.

In the movie, Brian wants to go to Brazil, but Irene is opposed. In the novel on page 100, words like, “stealing away the sense of security, the feeling of permanence, from the life which she has so admirably arranged for them all,” shows that Irene believes her controlling situations is security.  Irene wants to exist in a safe world that is unrealistic. Both Brian and Irene want a new world, unfortunately their “new world” views don’t match. Their sex life is a “joke,” and they lack intimacy to the point where Irene conscious and subconscious desires intimacy from Clare.

Brian understands passaging because he understands a part of the Black race to survive. “Instinct of the race to survive and expand,” Brian said on page 98. But at the same time, passing is problematic because of its deception. It also leads to questions about where their kids fit in to this all.