Passing (AmazonClassics Edition) characters

Appears from the start

A light-skinned Black woman living in Harlem with her physician husband and their two sons. She sometimes passes as white for convenience but remains firmly attached to her family and Black social world. A chance encounter with a childhood acquaintance unsettles the orderly life she has built.

Also known as Clare Bellew

Appears from the start

Irene's striking childhood acquaintance, now living as a white woman under her married name. Clare is confident, socially daring, and eager to renew contact with the Black community she left behind, despite the danger of exposing the life she has constructed.

First appears in chapter 2

Irene's husband, a successful Harlem physician. He is affectionate but restless, frustrated by American racism and still drawn to his long-discussed hope of moving the family to Brazil, an idea Irene resists.

Also known as Jack

First appears in chapter 3

Clare's wealthy white husband, who does not know that she is Black. His easy use of a racist nickname for her and his openly hostile views make clear how dangerous discovery would be.

First appears in chapter 3

A former schoolmate of Irene and Clare who, like Irene, has a light complexion but identifies openly as Black. Her presence at tea sharpens the tension created by John Bellew's ignorance of his wife's ancestry.

First appears in chapter 6

A white novelist and friend in Irene's New York circle. Observant and socially at ease, he attends the Negro Welfare League dance and discusses with Irene the complicated curiosity that draws some white guests to Harlem society.

First appears in chapter 9

Irene's warm, socially confident friend, whose appearance makes her Black identity immediately legible to strangers. She is with Irene during an encounter that abruptly raises the stakes of Clare's concealed identity.

First appears in chapter 10

Felise's husband and a member of Irene and Brian's Harlem social circle. He and Felise host the gathering at which the tensions surrounding Clare finally break into the open.