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. As well as there existing a paradigm of the gaze from this young man, I think this story has another example of the theme of the gaze being prominent in “Cornelia the Crude”. It is believed that the self-perception of black individuals was a key factor in there likely to be successful and productive. I think Cornelia was impacted by the how the young man treated her. In this time period and even today, many black youths seem to lead undisciplined and reckless lives due to several factors but none other than self-perception. The reading states about Cordelia, “…, sixteen years old, matronly matured, was an undisciplined, half-literate, product of rustic South Carolina…”. (Thurman,5). Cornelia’s upbringing and childhood didn’t prepare her to amount to much and led her to start her life down the wrong path. With no interest in education, work, or anything productive. It wasn’t until the young man gave her the two dollars when she realized she could make a living of her the promiscuous lifestyle she was living. Meaning she was influenced by how she perceived herself from the beginning to go down the wrong path and when given the opportunity to make a living with that crude lifestyle she takes it. I think her perception of herself is what led Cordelia to make the choices she made. And I think this is where the gaze is a relevant theme.
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. Disregarding her identity and her integrity as a black person she joins sides with a race that wouldn’t accept her if they knew the truth. In the reading it describes Clare as, “…Clare Kendry cared nothing for the race. She only belonged to it…”. (Larsen,90). 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. James once said, “Well, you see, it’s like this. When we were first married, she was as white as—as—well as white as a lily. But I declare she’s gettin’ darker and darker. I tell her if she don’t look out, she’ll wake up one of these days and find she’s turned into a nigger.” (Larsen,67). The theme of the gaze is prevalent with Clare and how she is perceived by others because she sacrifices her integrity and identity to be accepted into a group of people who wouldn’t stop to think of mistreating her for her color.

Citation:
Thurman,Wallace. 1926.”Cordelia The Crude”.(pp.5-6)
Larsen,Nella.1929.”Passing”.(pp.67)(pp.90)