Assimilation In Passing

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English 102 20 March 2013 Title Assimilation is something not a lot of people know about let alone go through in their own lives, but it is not as rare as some might think it is. It happens in all aspects of life and in all forms. It can lead to family exile in which their families look at them as if they’re a traitor and have lost touch with their culture. It can also cause one to have an inner conflict, where the one assimilating starts losing touch with themselves and starts to look in the mirror and seeing themselves as a traitor. It can also be abused and one could assimilate in order to gain status or a certain persitge in which they take advantage of their situation this occurance is also known as “passing” and has been long used…show more content…
It can lead to a person having felt like they lost a part of their culture or their heritage, and this can cause major stress on some ones mental state. These affects losing touch with yourself, where they feel as if being something they’re not is damaging them. In the novel “Passing”, Claire is forever at war with her mind because though she might pass as a white female she will one day have to confront the ever hovering fact she is half black, and knows as “Nig” by her husband, “When we were first married, she was as-as-well as white as a lily. But I declared she’s getting darker and darker. I tell her if she don’t look out, shell wake up one day and find she’s turned into a nigger.” (Passing pg 39, Larsen). When Claire finds out about how Irene almost chooses at will to be black or to be white she starts rethinking her own self, and how she is now forced to pass and this creates conflict in wether or not she should even pass and what has she lost because of passing. Due to the fact she is half white, the African side of her comes to the forefront more and more the older she gets so she is always at a conflict in wether she should continue to be white or come out and admit her African roots. These are some major mental affects self chosen assimilation can have on
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