After finishing group work and looking over the other works that other groups read, I’ve come to the conclusion that the canon now is very different from how the canon used to be. All of the pieces that we’ve read up to this point besides our books for group work, have had similar themes throughout, and have all been written by white males for the most part.

As the canon starts to change, it is clear that not only the storylines and themes shift, but also the race and gender of the authors changes. For example, Sula is written by an African American woman, and Native Speaker is written by an Asian American male. At one point in time, neither one of these books would have received any praise, but now that the canon is changing, a variety of books written by an assortment of people from different races, are receiving credit for their works.

In Passing, Nella Larsen examines the lives of two different black women who have very different life styles. Clare is a woman who is light skinned enough as a black woman, to pass as a member of the white community. She marries a white man who has no idea that she is black. She hides her identity from everyone in the white community in order to assimiliate and fit in with everyone else.

On the other hand, there is Irene who is also light enough to pass as a white person, but chose to stay within her own race. She married a black doctor and chose to remain true to who she was and where she came from. I found this book a bit disturbing at first because I couldnt comprehend the idea of someone wanting to fit in so badly that they would lie about everything in their life. Not only could Clare not talk to any of the people she grew up with or lived around, but she ran a risk of being caught and potentially harmed.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, but the one thing that bothered me about it was the ending. I have always been the type of person that likes a clear cut ending. In Passing, the ending is very ambiguous and open ended. It is never made clear what actually happens and it is left up to the reader to decide.

 Overall I also enjoyed working with my group. I thought that we worked well together and didn’t mind sharing tasks or listening to criticism. We all did our part in a timely fashion and were willing to meet the responsibilities of the assignment.