THE MYTH OF THE MULATTO PSYCHE: A STUDY OF THE WORKS OF JESSIE FAUSET AND NELLA LARSEN (HARLEM RENAISSANCE)

Critics view Jessie Fauset's and Nella Larsen's use of cultured mulattoes and the passing theme as an indication that they wished to present respectable blacks to a white audience. Although such an evaluation fails to consider more significant aspects of their work, the damage done through misreadings and misinterpretations has had its lasting effect. Therefore, the significance of their contributions to the Harlem Renaissance movement is continuously challenged or ignored. This study, then, will provide a thorough reassessment of their works to show that Fauset's and Larsen's characterizations of black people and situations do not suggest preoccupation with showing white audiences a better class of blacks but indicate, instead, a desire to break from traditional stereotypes of blacks and the black experience.; Chapter one provides a historical overview of the mulatto in American literature. This chapter defines the basis of the myth and discusses its implications in both its fictional and extra-fictional contexts, with a view toward showing in later chapters the points of departure from the tradition by Fauset and Larsen.; Chapter two examines Fauset's novels Plum Bun and Comedy: American Style because, of her four works, these two deal most directly with the tragic mulatto and passing themes. Fauset depicts characters whose lives are shaped by childhood environment, denying completely the pseudoscientific theory that blood influences the formation of a mulatto psyche.; Critics who form assumptions about Larsen's works based on the color and class of her characters miss the provocative characterization of Helga Crane in Quicksand and the complexities of Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield in Passing. Chapter three examines these women in their various roles--real and assumed--and their relationships with others to show that they cannot be defined in terms of color and class.; The final chapter explores the mulatto in later years, specifically in the works of Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, writers critics feel have brought blacks from stereotype to character. The purpose here is to show that these writers are similarly preoccupied with color and class. Noticeably, too, within the works of Walker and Morrison the black American, whether of mixed blood or not, is depicted as living a peripheral existence and the dilemma he faces is not finally how to be white but how to fuse conflicting ideologies within the black soul.