Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half is a novel that follows the life journeys of twins, one choosing to live her life passing as White. Passing is what resonated with me when reading this book. In this blog post, I will further deconstruct the idea of passing that Brit Bennett eloquently illustrates in her sophomore book.
Desiree and Stella Vignes grew up in Mallard, Louisiana, a town known to only have residents that are fair skin. They decide in their teenage years to run away and start a new life in New Orleans. They acknowledged the privilege that came with being light skin, with one twin completely vanishing into this privilege. As usual, I don’t like giving too much of the book because I want you to read it!
Passing – Chosen Exile
While the book touches on many other topics, such as gender identity and, broadly, colorism, the main point is passing. A person is passing when they act as and accepted into another racial group. Stella Vignes decides to act as a white woman and, in doing so, marries a White man, lives in a White neighborhood, and follows White ideologies, particular around race. In an IG Live interview with Belletrist, when describing Stella Brit Bennett says, “whiteness is a performance, yet she is constantly performing whiteness wrong”. In the book, Stella tries her best to fit into whiteness so that she isn’t exposed.
Time and context are very important when discussing passing. Jim Crow laws painted a narrative that Whiteness was superior. Black people seeing the tangible benefits associated with Whiteness were probably eager to experience only a fraction of that. For example, Dr. Albert Johnston passed so he could practice medicine and his family lived comfortably. Choosing to pass as another race is a chosen exile. Bennett illustrates in her book, once gone there is really no coming back. In passing, you forge all relationships and ties to the life that you have before. I can’t even imagine the psychological effects from doing such a thing.
Brit Bennett’s book is not the only one who has written on the subject of passing. Fannie Hurst’s 1933 paperback bestseller, Imitation of Life, and Nella Larsen’s Passing address passing. Both of these books are on my Goodreads ‘Want to Read’ list.
Celebrities also benefit from not sharing their racial identification. Halsey, a pop singer, is also half Black, but when looking at her you wouldn’t think so. She has also leveraged her physical appearance to gain a more diverse audience. Carol Channing, an actress, revealed later in her career that she was African-American and the daughter of a man that chose to pass for White. Her father withheld his true identity until she was sixteen. Brit Bennett uses the character Kennedy to navigate the feelings around finding out information about your identity late in life and how you can identify with parts of yourself that you have no real connection to.
Should you read this book?
I would highly recommend this book. There are so many layers to unpack in this book. Brit has secured a seven-figure HBO deal to turn the book into a miniseries. I am excited to see this book come to life. If done correctly, this will be a good one. Get your book here.
