8/13/2019 Racial Passing in Philip Roth's The Human Stain.pdf

1/13

RACIAL PASSING IN JAMES WELDON JOHNSONSTHE

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN EX-COLORED MANAND PHILIP ROTHS THE

HUMAN STAIN

MOBILIDADE RACIAL: O PASSING NOS ROMANCESTHE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN

EX-COLORED MAN ETHE HUMAN STAIN

Maria Luiza Cardoso de Aguiar*

Resumo

O chamado passing racial trata, principalmente, do fenmeno no qual negros de pele mais clara e de

traos mestios se passam por pessoas brancas, a fim de, mais comumente, conseguirem vantagens sociais

e econmicas, frequentemente mais acessveis aos brancos do que aos negros. A partir de

problematizaes em torno dos conceitos de passing, o presente trabalho visa a analisar

comparativamente duas importantes obras da literatura norte-americana do sculo !!" The

autobiography of an ex-colored man #$%$&'$%(%), de *ames +eldon *ohnson, e The human stain

#&), de hilip oth. retende-se investigar como a quest/o do passing retratada em cada uma das

obras, a fim de se destacar que, apesar de os protagonistas em quest/o apresentarem muitas

similaridades e dese0arem que categorias pr-estabelecidas n/o se0am decisivas em suas tra0et1rias, a

e2peri3ncia do passing heterog3nea, sendo construda e operada diferentemente em cada um dos

romances.

Palavras-!ave:assing, 4dentidade acial, Afro-Americanos.A"s#ra#

5he so-called racial passing is defined, mainl6, as a phenomenon through 7hich blac8 people 7ho are light-

s8inned pass for 7hites, in order to achieve social and economic advantages 7hich are usuall6 more easil6

available to 7hite people. 9ased on problematizations around the concepts of passing, the present article

intends to anal6ze, comparativel6, t7o important 7or8s from the & thcentur6"The Autobiography of anEx-colored Man #$%$&'$%(%), 7ritten b6 *ames +eldon *ohnson, andThe Human tain #&), 7ritten

b6 hilip oth. 5he anal6sis of these 7or8s aims at investigating ho7 the issue of passing is portra6ed in

each of the novels, in order to highlight the fact that, although the protagonists at sta8e share man6

similarities, such as the desire to free themselves from the decisiveness of pre-established categories li8e

8/13/2019 Racial Passing in Philip Roth's The Human Stain.pdf

2/13

race, the e2perience of passing is heterogeneous and it is differentl6 constructed and operated in each of

the novels.

$e% &or's: assing, ace 4dentit6, Afro-Americans.

4 slip into corners, m6 long antenna encountering the various a2ioms

on the surface of things" $the :egro;s clothes smell of :egro