The aim of this essay is to present you with the reflections drawn upon the readings of the novel ‘Passing’, the ‘Great Gatsby’, the ‘Invisible Man’ and ‘Kabnis’. All these literary pieces deal with the issue of their main leading figures hiding their true origin and personality as a way to manage to adopt to the social environment within which they are to live and be successful. This paper will present you with the reflections drawn on such a behavior, shedding light on the reasons why people are forced to adopt such behavior and exploring the real nature of such a disguise. Is this disguise a defense or a hypocrisy towards the social environment within which they live and act?
Passing is a novel whose main thematic core is the friendship of two childhood friends Claire and Irene who had both African and European origins. These two friends were separated when Claire’s father died. Then Claire went to live with her two white aunts and thus turned into a white woman who hid her African origins. After some years and when Claire was married to a noble white man of a high social profile, Irene appears in her life. Irene is a woman who has been brought up away from the customs and habits of the white people, having stayed behind in the neighborhood of black people. A conflict begins between the two women. And it is this conflict upon which the main thematic core of the novel is knitted. The writer leaves a lot of questions unanswered. This is not only done because she may have decided not to share her personal points of view with her readers but mainly due to the fact that she seems to wish to raise questions using this incident and story on the nature of interpersonal relationships and on the extent to which one’s origins may affect his / her interpersonal relationship with another person. Since Claire finds it too difficult to accept Irene in her life, putting aside all the feelings she had for her childhood friend and letting herself be conquered by her fear of losing her social status upon the revealing of her real origin, it is clear that the writer wishes to awaken people’s minds on what damage racial differences and prejudice can do to people. But the main mastery of the novel ‘Passing’ lies in the fact that there is a message which takes readers; minds a step further from just seeing the racial differences and prejudice and realizing the damage which can be caused because of them. Readers start realizing that what Claire is facing is a procedure which actually leads all readers to unrevealing her real personality traits. Since Claire seem too frightened to accept who she really is then it is clear that she herself seems to have great trouble in accepting who she is. It may even be that she is unable to recognize who she really is. So Claire is driven to realizing her inner problem and conflict of accepting herself for who she really is. It could be that Claire had never imagined or realized that she would have had such a great problem admitting to who she really is. The ending of the novel empowers this belief on behalf of the readers. Claire puts an end to her life by falling out of the window. Could it be that someone pushed her out of the window? Or could it be that she herself pushed herself out of the window committing suicide? And if she decided to commit suicide what was the real reason why she decided to do so? Was it her fear of not being accepted by her husband for who she really was/ or could it be something even better? Could it be that Claire herself could not stand herself be so weak not having the courage to support her true origin?
There is an arising question here in this novel which generates lots of discussion. When one wears a masque, when he/she decides to put on a mask what is the real reason that something like that happens? Is it social pressure? Is it personal hate and dislike on his / her origins?
It could be either of these above mentioned reasons or it could be a combination of all these reasons. But the bottom line is not so much the reason on whether it is one or a combination of lots of reasons. The bottom line is what the effect of such a masque is on the person himself and the society. The masque one puts on is not just a disguise. It is second skin. It is what is worn in order not to fool only the others but to fool himself as well. And this is the worst part of one wearing a masque. Putting on the face of someone who one knows that can be his / her ticket to social recognition and success is hypocrisy towards the society but towards himself as well. And this kind of hypocrisy is the reason why one feels unhappy and not well no matter how well –established his / her masque turns out to be.
This is what appears to happen to Claire. Claire has managed to build a nice, successful life based on a lie. And this lie is not only told to the society within which she lives. This is a lie she keeps telling herself as well so as to be able to serve the demands of her masque and her disguise. If Claire did not tell the lie to herself as well then she would not be able to serve the demands of her disguise. She would look fake. So she makes herself believe in her lie as if it was the truth otherwise she would not manage to survive as a white in the social world of the white people. As a result when Claire comes face to face with the danger of being revealed to the others she is terrified and her main terror lies in the fact that she is not ready to look at her own truth on her own, to accept who she really is. She seems to have forgotten who she really is in order to be able to survive. So this unfolding of her personality’s cover costs her much more than it costs the others.
Something like that happens to the heroes of the other novels. Great Gatsby makes his own way and draws his successful path in the upper social class leaving behind him all that he used to be. If he did not reject himself who he really was then he would not be able to put on such a masque which would win him all the recognition and social success within the borders of the upper social class which he enters having denied original and genuine traits of his personality. Gatsby puts on a masque due to two main reasons. His first motivation is his love for luxuries and wealth. His second motivation is the love he has for a Daisy, the main female figure of the novel. Great Gatsby appears to make a new self out of his old one. What he keeps from his old self is not revealed to the readers but at a very late stage when Great Gatsby appears to hold all the innocence and good traits of his innocence. So what he appears to have held behind is his poor origins and lack of wealth. He has held back the traits which he thinks that they will inhibit his material success. Great Gatsby invents a new self. But the reinvention of himself collapses within the borders of the corruption of the American Dream. Fitzgerald writes the Great Gatsby wishing to criticize the American Dream and its materialism. Gatsby reinvents a new materialistic self, wishing to take the great share of the American Dream. But throughout his life he witnesses the faults of the American Dream and he realizes that he does not really like his masque. So he had better take this out even if that means the others rejecting him.
Likewise the heroes Bledsoe and Hanby from the Invisible Man and the Kabnis novels retrospectively are also examples of people wearing their false identity in order to adopt to the social environment of theirs. Kabnis is one of the parts of the novel Cane by Jean Toomer and narrates the incident of a self –exorcism. There is an educated black man who returns to the State of Georgia but he cannot leave his past behind. He has great problem in dealing with the world around him who treats him as the black man who though educated is still a black man. In the novel Invisible Man a man who is of African origins becomes gradually more and more invisible. The reason is the reaction of his environment. They cannot accept him. They cannot come in terms with his origins. So the result remains that he turns into an invisible man. What does that invisibility stand for? It stands for the masque he puts on so that he manages himself to deal with the fact that others treat him as an African American person who is imposed lots of limitations. He does not seem able to deal with the limitations the others impose on him. He serves the roles and the jobs he is assigned due to his identity, the identity the others see in him but he cannot find the courage to take off these kinds of limitations, this kind of false identity the others impose on him because of their prejudice. So the masque which is worn by the narrator in the Invisible Man is the masque which will help him save his true identity, the one lying down in the deep inner part of his souls. There is a true, genuine identity but it cannot be revealed because neither he nor the others seem able to see him for who he really is.
Conclusion
Pirandello once said that humans are both actors and directors in the theatrical performances of their lives. What that means is that people always wear masques and adopt behaviors according to what others expect of them to do. But these masques no matter their usefulness are always dangerous since there is always the underlying danger for the people who wear specific masques to forget who they are or what their real traits are. Playing according to the social rules is in a way mandatory so that people can be easily adjusted to the social norm of their societies. But this adjust on their behalf ought to be performed in such a way that they do not forget who they are, where they come from and most important where they are heading to. Life is a journey during which people meet lots of challenges, play different roles and adopt numerous behaviors and attitudes. All these ought to happen in such a way that their original personality traits are not forgotten and are kept if they prove to be indeed representative of their personality’s nature and soul.
Works Cited
Bloom Harold, ed. F. Scott Fitgerald’s THE GREAT GATSBY. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 2003.
Lehan Richard D.F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Craft of Fiction. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1966.
Nadel Alan Invisible Criticism: Ralph Ellison and the American Canon. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1988.
