Passing In Home To Harlem

Passing In Home To Harlem

Women of the Harlem Renaissance Novels: The Stark Differences Between The Women of Passing and Home to Harlem In the novels Home to Harlem and Passing, the representation of women characters is very different. In terms of personality, social class, and relationships with other characters, the women characters in both novels are distinctive from each other in many ways. The middle–class women of Passing provides insight to the drama of "passing" as white, while the women of Home to Harlem provides more sexual politics and dynamics between them and the male characters. Both novels present women characters in different social classes and backgrounds, which help further both plots as a result. In Nella Larsen's Passing, both of the primary ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...This is a stark difference when compared to the presentation of women in another Harlem Renaissance novel, Home to Harlem by Claude McKay. In McKay's novel, the plot mostly circulates around male protagonist Jake, however the women characters still have a strong impact. Unlike Passing, the women of Home to Harlem are part of a supporting cast of characters, and are of lower class standing. Instead of attending tea parties and going window shopping, the women of Home to Harlem mostly work at clubs and brothels to make a living. However, the women characters of Home to Harlem actually have more power over some of the male characters. This is especially true when looking at the relationship between Zeddy and Susy. In the chapter "Zeddy's Rise And Fall", Zeddy gets kicked out by Susy due to him seeing other women in Harlem. Susy had previously warned Zeddy about going to Harlem clubs to see other women. The narrator states; "The enjoyment of Harlem's low nightlife was prohibited to Zeddy. Susy was jealous of him in the proprietary sense. She believed in free love all right, but not for the man she possessed and supported." (82) Once she finds out that Zeddy did not listen to her warning, she immediately kicks him out of their

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