In much of The Death of Nella Larsen, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry are portrayed as polar opposites. Although they both play the role of a young African-American mother living in the prosperous 1920s, they define that role in extremely different ways. Clare is a vivacious and wild woman who rejects her "people" in favor of freedom and glamour, while her good childhood friend Irene is more restrained and tries to act proud of her racial background for the sake of her family . Their differences ultimately manifest themselves in their approaches to motherhood, and much of the novel revolves around the choices they make regarding racial inheritance and parenting. Motherhood is central to Irene and Clare's racial experiences, as Larsen suggests that mothers are responsible for perpetuating the honor of the race to which they belong. Clare's attitude toward her racial disappearance and Irene's beliefs against it are each shaped and subsequently affected by how they perceive themselves as mothers, and it is these frictions that drive the story towards its inevitable tragic conclusion. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The importance of the mother figure is established early in the novel, beginning with the free spirit of Clare Kendry. Her own origins are tense and dramatic, with her "drunken father, a tall, powerfully built man" often asserting his male dominance over her. The absence of Clare's own mother – a black girl who, as "they say, would have run away if she hadn't died" – would later prove detrimental to Clare's development. After her father's death leaves her orphaned and with no one to help her deal with her interracial heritage, Clare continues to ride an emotional roller coaster, which Irene remembers more clearly when scrutinizing Clare's character: "Sometimes , she was harsh and apparently without feeling at all; sometimes she was affectionate and recklessly impulsive.” Without a mother to properly nurture her feelings and sensibilities, Clare chooses to rebel against all expectations of her black race by passing herself off as a white woman in order to compensate for her troubled childhood. In addition to lacking a caring mother, Clare finds herself burdened with caring for her father's sisters, which was one of the biggest influences behind Clare's passing. Her aunts serve as surrogate mother figures to Clare and essentially teach her to ignore her biological mother's ancestry. “Despite all their Bibles and prayers and ramblings about honesty, they didn't want anyone to know that their beloved brother had seduced...a black girl. […] They forbade me to talk to the neighbors about Negroes, or even about the south side. You can be sure it's not, Clare explains to Irene while discussing her life with her aunts. These women essentially condition Clare to deny the existence of her black blood, and with no one else to show her how to be proud of the African American race, Clare rejects her heritage and easily slips into the persona of a white woman pure. When Clare becomes a mother herself, she earnestly continues to pass as white, leading her to neglect even her own child. Throughout Larsen's novel, Irene remarks to Clare that she must remember the well-being of her daughter Margery. Clare laments the thought of leaving New York, and even when Irene reminds her of Margery, Clare is still intimidated that she can't stay and mingle with the rest of Harlem society. “Children don't do everything... There are other things in the world,although I admit that some people don’t seem to suspect it,” Clare complains. Clare obviously admires the glamor of her white appearance, and being reminded by her child that she still carries (and has passed on) black blood would make her cringe. Coupled with her husband John Bellew's categorical rule that there are "no niggers in my family," Clare cannot be a good mother to her child without admitting his true nature. She understands that within the white race, pure white blood is expected to continue into future generations. Rather than feeding her child to atone for her own mother's absence, Clare continues the cycle by making herself as unavailable to her daughter as possible. With Margery by her side, Clare can't be as vibrant and exuberant as she wants to be. In contrast to Clare's rejection of motherhood and family in favor of personal satisfaction and social status, Irene takes her own role as a mother very seriously. “I am absorbed in my boys and running my home. I can't do anything about it. And really, I don’t think it’s anything to laugh about,” Irene responds to Clare. She feels it is her responsibility to instill good values ​​in her two sons and wants them to be able to grow up and freely embrace their African-American heritage. After young Ted questions why only people of color were lynched, Irene and her husband Brian argue over how best to broach the subject of their sons' race. Brian states that if "they [Ted and Junior] are going to live in this damn country, they better find out as soon as possible what kind of things they're up against." He wants their children to be equipped to deal with racism, but Irene wants "their childhood to be happy and as free as possible from the knowledge of such things." Irene fears that if her sons are more aware of the intolerance and prejudice that await them in the real world, they will be ashamed of and suffer from their African-American heritage. If she fails to make her children's lives happy and "also free from all knowledge" of racism before they are ready to confront it, then Irene will not only have failed in her position as a mother, but she will have also failed in her position as mother of the black race. Unlike Clare, who does not want anyone to discover that she is secretly carrying the blood of slaves, Irene wants to see her race progress towards a better social stratum. Irene's decision to stay within the boundaries of her race and not publicly deny it also relates to the fact that the rest of her family is of a darker tone: "Irene... now said in a voice that she was proud of the even tone: 'One of my boys is brown.' She must be honored by the color of her family's skin for the sake of her children. Irene “proudly” describes her son as dark, and she sees it as her duty to maintain that darkness and show the world how great the African-American man can be. Unlike Clare – who, as a deserter, must be "afraid of the phenomena of nature" – Irene must actively deny her death and accept her black heritage, and she believes that by encouraging future generations to overcome racism and white prejudices, she will have done her part superbly as a mother of color. The differences that separate Clare and Irene as mothers ultimately lead to their final confrontation and the tragic circumstances surrounding them in the novel's conclusion. Clare wants to free herself from John Bellew, but Irene thinks she is being selfish by neglecting Margery. “I think…being a mother is the cruelest thing in the world,” Clare says. Clare thinks her child is preventing her from achieving happiness and independence, and Irene desperately tries to explain to her that she has a.