Passing: Motives, Techniques, and Outcomes

What is it about?

In this chapter, I introduce my corpus—post-WWII passing texts that depict Jews passing as non-Jews—providing autobiographic details about the authors, as well as a brief summary of the plots and reception of the texts I analyze. Then, I begin my reading of the novels by analyzing their representations of the motives, outcomes, and techniques of passing. I show that to one degree or another, all the passers are motivated by an ambivalent relation to their family of origin: feelings of shame, even hatred, impel them to cut themselves off from parents, grandparents, and other Jews, permanently or temporarily, revealing one important aspect of their inner conflict and sense of tenuousness as American citizens.

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Photo by D A V I D S O N L U N A on Unsplash

Photo by D A V I D S O N L U N A on Unsplash