Throughout these readings, the gaze and one’s perception and awareness of other individuals is a prominent theme. In the story of “Cordelia the Crude”, Cordelia is a young and promiscuous girl with the potential of being a prostitute and no more than that. She doesn’t work or go to school, and she spends her nights in theatres going out and sleeping with strange men. Until she encounters a young man who is kind to her and gives her money for nothing in return. This young man perceives Cordelia differently than she perceives herself. The gaze in this story is represented from perspective of a supporting character, the young man. He views Cordelia differently. In the reading from “Fire” the young man describes seeing Cordelia in a place where he feels as she doesn’t belong. It was written, “And there I saw Cornelia savagely careening in a drunken abortion of the Charleston”. (Thurman,6). Being written from his perspective strengthened the idea that this young man thought more of her than just a sex object but for what she really was.
Similarly, the gaze is represented in a story of African American life in Nella Larsen’s “Passing”. In this text, a light skinned black woman named Clare earns the status of passing off as white/Caucasian due to her light complexion. She lives life as a white woman with almost no one knowing her secret. In this text, the gaze is characterized through expounding the societal view of individuals and their status in society based on their racial and ethnic characteristics. There are several driving factors in what makes people view other individuals this way in this story such as racism, prejudice, and colorism. Jack, who is Clare’s husband who is unsuspecting of her secret passes around small racial jokes at her due to her darkening skin complexion.

Citation:
Thurman,Wallace.1926.”Cordelia The Crude”.(pp.5-6)