Research Paper on:
James Weldon Johnson's The Autobiography of an Ex Colored Man, Nella Larsen's Passing, and Lynching

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
do not stop to look at social or individual perceptions that lead to a more symbolic understanding of lynchings, but rather only examine lynchings form the political and humane perspective.  In Nella Larsens "Passing" and James Weldon Johnsons "The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man," however, we are presented with characters whose relationships with lynching are personal and very symbolic in  terms of the characters desires to become free to some extent, especially in relationship to the idea of passing as other than African American. Bearing that in mind the following  paper examines the role played by lynching in the development of the stories. The paper then provides a brief comparison of the two. Passing This particular story is  one that essentially revolves around two women, two African American women, who have chosen different paths in life, both paths associated with skin color and "passing." The women in the  story are Clare and Irene. Clare is a woman who has passed into the white world. She is African American but is so light skinned that she passes as white.  She is married to a white bigot who has no knowledge of her African American heritage. Irene is just the opposite, though she denies her race as well. She is  married to a very successful doctor who wishes to leave the country and find a place where they are not oppressed. Irene, however, ignores the realities of prejudice and would  rather believe they do not exist, always avoiding the realities. Both women are trying to pass, in one way or another, and forget who they are and where they  come from. And, interestingly enough, when it comes to the concept of lynching, both women try to ignore it in the hopes that it does not somehow relate to them