Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins

The creative piece by Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins, 'Talma Gordon' is a moving tale, that seems at first just a historical fiction drama with a horrific murder at its core. A young heiress is accused and tried for the murder of half her family based on circumstantial evidence, despite her virtuous nature. Though she escapes conviction, her life after that trial is covered by a dark cloud, and she disappears from the narrators life. As the story's ending draws near, the plot twists with Talma's return. She is believed to be dying by the doctor, and she makes a last confession to her ex-lover as to why she has turned him down so many times. It is confessed that Talma's mother was one sixteenth black (the daughter of a white man and an 'octoroon' mother) , making Talma one thirty-second black. Perhaps the most appalling part of this story was that of Talma's lover's abandonment of her; he could have lived with her as murderess, but not as a woman caring any trace of black blood. Although she is absolved of the murder when a confession is uttered by a man dying at the asylum, her future remains unclear until the narrator (and doctor) calls in his bride- Talma. This brings back the loop of thought on 'intermarriage' brought up in the start of the novel. Talma was not even thought to be black, and was readily assimilated into the 'white world'- her very presence at the gentleman's discussion on intermarriage was proceeded by rumors of how gorgeous a woman she was.

Her tragic loss of a lover and near loss of inheritance due to her family lineage reflect on the hardships faced when the bias against African American heritage rears its head. This past week there was an essay printed in the New York Times reflecting on the issue of 'passing' and the contentious history it has. The author of the piece is Toure, an African American man who has written several successful fiction pieces and has been a presence in journalism for many years. He is currently working on a book about post-blackness and expresses his views on the subject matter of passing. The article includes references to pieces of literature we have covered in Norton; his general argument is that he has no desire to pass as white, even "If a fairy godfather came to me and said I could switch races, I’d open the window and make him use it. I think 99 percent of black people would do the same."(Toure, NYT) I think the essay is worth looking at, and especially his closing question- "From my perspective, it seems many white Americans are entranced by blackness and drool over how exciting and dangerous and sexy blacks seem. So my question is: Why aren’t more white people trying to pass as black?" (Toure, NYT)

Toure's essay @ NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/books/review/Toure-t.html