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  • Essay / Ontological Plurality: The Solution to Limited Racial Problematization

    Problematizing comfortably described notions of race is essential in the fight not only for racial equality, but rather for the complete erasure of the racial binary. This involves the adoption of stereotypical strategies by a racial culture. The notion of “passage” catalyzes this phenomenon (semi-complicated abstract principle, but in reality poorly formulated). Passing presents itself as “more than just a racial strategy: it’s a strategy for being a person.” It is a strategy that allows one to abandon the stereotypical behaviors of a racial sect while embracing new cultural flavors. It's a strategy that makes it easier to find identity. But it is “only when overcoming becomes a subversive strategy to avoid the confinements of a racist, classist and sexist society [that it becomes] truly liberating”. Because then, the passage does not become a usurpation of a lifestyle/an identity of which we would like to be a part or of which we would like to be a part, but rather a means of escaping the Pygmalion erected by society which defines and categorizes races, Helga Crane and Clare by Nella Larsen. Kendry illustrates the different ways of approaching and, arguably, problematizing the racial binary; while Helga Crane aimlessly and insatiably searches for an identity—a “true” self—Clare Kendry continually complicates her racial identity by embracing a contradictory plurality of customs and customs. behaviors - to ultimately achieve liberation from ontological multiplicity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayThe Harlem Cabaret mesmerized Helga. She gets lost in the sudden rhythm of streaming. and finds herself attracted to the dancers' captivating and sexually suggestive movements. Soon, Helga finds herself “blown away, torn apart, battered by the joyous, wild, troubled orchestra” in a moment evocative of sexual climax. But once the music fades, Helga reevaluates and asserts that "she was not, she told herself, a creature of the jungle..." The dissonance Helga feels is powerful. It is clear that she loves more than cabaret and yet the reader sees her trying to convince herself otherwise. For what? Helga Crane is a victim of the racial binary. Helga Crane believes that her desire, as well as her attraction to dancers, is misplaced. And, unfortunately, Helga feels this tension (between sexual freedom and restraint) throughout the novel. In its struggle for equality, the black social elite wanted women to emulate the conventions of dominant society. Maintaining a good image was intended not only to produce change within the race, but also to combat white stereotypes that fueled discrimination against black people. Thus, described as primitive and promiscuous since slavery, black women suppressed their sexuality and strongly adhered to contemporary ideas of social propriety. Helga here does the same. Helga “wants to belong to herself and herself alone,” but she keeps wondering if it is possible to have an identity that is (a) completely self-defined and (b) the solution to her problem. “Helga never confronts the fact that her identity is perhaps both plural and social and that it can therefore never stop passing; she is always on quicksand. » Helga thinks she must choose between two identities: black and white. “Why couldn't she have two lives, or why couldn't she at least be satisfied in one place? Despite her racial characteristics, she didn't belong to those dark, segregated people," says Helga. "She was different. She felt it. It wasn't just a., 1995.