This article examines the role of colorism in shaping identity formation in African American literature, with particular attention to the works of Nella Larsen, Delores Phillips, and Brit Bennett . While racism has been widely studied, colorism, defined as intra-racial discrimination based on skin tone, remains an underexplored yet deeply influential social and psychological phenomenon. Drawing on Critical Race Theory, cultural studies, and theories of identity construction, this study analyzes how literary narratives represent the complex interplay between social hierarchies, family dynamics, and personal identity. Through a close reading of Passing , The Darkest Child , and The Vanishing Half , the article highlights how characters negotiate their identities within systems structured by both racial and intra-racial inequalities. The analysis reveals that colorism operates as both a structural and internalized system, shaping access to social mobility while producing psychological fragmentation, insecurity, and tensions in belonging. The phenomenon of racial passing further illustrates the paradox of identity, where proximity to whiteness provides privilege but often results in alienation and loss of self. By foregrounding literary representations of colorism, this study contributes to broader debates on race, identity, and cultural representation in African American and diasporic contexts. It argues that African American literature not only reflects the realities of color-based hierarchies but also critically interrogates the processes through which identity is constructed, negotiated, and transformed.
Analytic philosophers, whose concern has been the core areas of philosophy, logic, ontology, epistemology, and philosophy of language, have merely contributed to literary studies by providing their theories with examples drawn from literature. The growing interest in literature in the analytic tradition has often transposed their engagement with the questions about language and its related extents such as meaning, truth, and reference. Ludwig Wittgenstein, among others, has explored the reference to fiction names, which is the point of departure of such an attempt. That said, this unassuming paper seeks to unearth the bearings of Ludwig Wittgenstein‘s Trcacturain’s conception of language on literary criticism. Thereby, this article takes the tack towards the context principle Wittgenstein endorsed from Frege as the intersection thesis between picture theory and critical construal of fiction entities. With this premise, the researchers probe the analogy between the aesthetic and the philosophical logical by spilling the beams on the dialogue between Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-philosophicus and the ontology of fiction entities. The detailed pictorial analysis of statements of fiction, extracted from the novel the Sympathiser authored by Viet Thanh Nguyen, culminated in Wittgenstein’s picture theory as an apposite lens of construing literary works. The paper's inclusive outcomes are amalgamated in the fact that the sub-conceptions of Wittgenstein ‘picture theory do not fail to either silence the opponents of picture theory’s felicitousness to interpreting literary works or marginalise the aesthetic and cognitive value of literature.
This article explores transnationalism in postcolonial literature through the migrant experiences in None to Accompany Me and Americanah . Political oppression, economic instability, racism, and globalization continue to compel many Africans to migrate, yet migrants often retain deep emotional, cultural, and economic ties to their homelands. Drawing on transnationalism, diaspora, postcolonialism, and identity from scholars including Rainer Bauböck, Thomas Faist, Bill Ashcroft, and Homi Bhabha, this study investigates how migrants negotiate identity, belonging, and cultural preservation abroad. The article argues that migration does not sever homeland ties. Rather, migrants construct “transnational spaces” that bridge host and origin countries, sustaining familial, cultural, linguistic, political, and economic relationships while adapting to new societies. Central themes include exile, hybridity, resistance, sexuality, identity, and Bhabha’s “third space.” Through qualitative, comparative textual analysis of characters such as Sibongile and Didymus Maqoma, Ifemelu, and Obinze, the study shows how migrants resist assimilation, navigate racism and alienation, and use language, family ties, remittances, and nostalgia to maintain transnational connections. The analysis concludes that transnationalism is central to the migrant experience in contemporary African literature. Despite identity crises and cultural conflict, these novels present migration not as abandonment of origins, but as negotiation of multiple identities and spaces affirming the resilience and adaptability of the postcolonial subject in a globalized world.
This study undertakes a sociolinguistic exploration of the intricate relationship between context and language choice within two seminal works of Nigerian drama: Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman and Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame. The mastery of a language is not merely a function of grammatical competence but is profoundly demonstrated by the ability to select linguistic forms appropriate to a given context. This research investigates the contextual factors that govern language choice in these plays, which serve as rich repositories of sociolinguistic phenomena. Employing a qualitative methodology grounded in discourse analysis, specifically the SPEAKING model associated with the ethnography of communication, the study analyzes 115 exchanges from 16 purposively sampled excerpts. The findings reveal that the contexts influencing language choice are multifaceted, primarily delineated along the formal and informal axes. These contexts are shaped by a confluence of factors including the physical setting, the social and hierarchical status of the participants, the cultural worldview embedded in the speech community, and the overall atmosphere of the communicative event. The study concludes that context exerts a determinative influence on the linguistic choices made by the characters. The participants in the plays adeptly navigate their linguistic repertoires, deploying language in a manner that is congruent with the situational and cultural exigencies they face. This research contributes to the understanding of sociolinguistic dynamics in literary texts, highlighting the interplay between language, culture, and society as portrayed in Nigerian dramatic literature.
Elegy is one of the earliest popular lyric poem in all cultures that traditionally focused on themes of death, loss, pain and sorrow, following the death of a beloved individual in the society or forfeit of valuable items. It is also considered the most significant and sincere form of poetry due to its emotional intensity, genuineness of experience, and precise depiction. From pre-Islamic times, elegy has occupied a significant position in Arabic literature in its homeland, and in Sudanic Africa, especially among the Yoruba (Southwest Nigeria) since the introduction of Arabic culture into the region. This essay is a translation and analysis of an elegy by Shaykh Ibrāhīm al-Nufawī on Shaykh Aḥmad al-Rufai (1895-1966) popularly called Alufa Inda-Salātī. The descriptive analytical method is employed to give a background to the poet and the subject of the elegy, translate the piece, and conduct a fairly detailed examination of its form and content, in the context of the conventional literary devices employed by the author in representing actions, feelings, thoughts and ideas, to enrich the readers’ knowledge of the significance of elegy genre in this part of West Africa.
This study examines the destabilization of Victorian moral certainties in George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest through a postmodern deconstructive lens. It explores how both playwrights, writing within the constraints of Victorian society, anticipate postmodern concerns by challenging dominant ideologies of morality, identity, and social structure. Emerging during a period marked by rigid social hierarchies, strict gender expectations, and an intense emphasis on public respectability, both plays expose the contradictions embedded within Victorian moral discourse. The study is situated within broader debates on literature and ideology, particularly the relationship between social performance, moral authority, and the instability of meaning in literary texts. The central hypothesis is that these texts deconstruct moral absolutes by exposing their contradictions and performative nature, a position consistent with Jacques Derrida’s assertion that meaning is never fixed but always deferred (Of Grammatology 158). Drawing primarily on Derrida’s theory of deconstruction, and supported by Michel Foucault’s critique of power and discourse as well as Jean Baudrillard’s insights into bourgeois simulation, the study adopts a qualitative textual analysis method. Through close reading, comparative literary analysis, and critical interpretation of selected scenes and character constructions, the research investigates how the plays of the authors undermine claims to moral stability and social authenticity. The study demonstrates how Shaw interrogates capitalist and patriarchal structures through the commodification of women’s labour, while Wilde satirizes the superficiality, hypocrisy, and self-fashioning that underpin middle-class respectability. The analysis shows that both plays undermine essentialist notions of truth, virtue, and identity, revealing moral norms as unstable constructs rather than universal absolutes. By and large, the research concludes that these late Victorian dramas not only critique the ideological foundations of their own society but also anticipate central postmodern concerns regarding fragmentation, performativity, and the indeterminacy of meaning. Through their dramatic strategies, Shaw and Wilde expose morality as a socially constructed and deeply contested concept rather than a fixed ethical reality.
This paper examines the conditions under which selected Cameroonian pop songs may be read as candidates for cultural canonization within postcolonial African music studies. While Cameroonian popular music circulates widely across local and diasporic spaces, it remains under-theorized as a corpus capable of generating enduring aesthetic, ideological, and historical value. The paper addresses this gap by interrogating how certain pop songs function not merely as entertainment, but as cultural texts that crystallize collective memory, gendered subjectivities, and glocal negotiations of identity. Through a comparative reading of “Crying for Salvation” by Afo Akom, “Ça Va Aller” by Salatiel, “Jongde Ma” by Tao, and “Esingan” by les Têtes Brûlées, the study hypothesizes that songs become canonizable when they successfully mediate between global musical idioms and localized cultural codes while engaging urgent socio-political concerns. In order to examine Cameroonian pop songs as geocritical texts capable of contributing to cultural canonization through spatial and narrative analysis; Cameroonian pop songs function as geocritical texts that construct complex spatial, temporal, and cultural meanings through intertextuality, referentiality, and multisensory representation, thereby justifying their inclusion within an expanded African cultural canon. Leaning primarily on geocriticism, the article reads these works as cultural artifacts embedded in the socio-political conditions of postcolonial Cameroon and its diasporic extensions. Through close lyrical analysis, sonic interpretation, and attention to performance and reception contexts, the study argues that canonization in Cameroonian pop emerges at the intersection of aesthetic innovation, historical resonance, and transnational circulation. Ultimately, the paper proposes a framework for understanding how popular music participates in shaping national memory and diasporic belonging. These songs are selected because they span different historical moments—linguistic registers and stylistic orientations—ranging from bikutsi, folklore-inflected performance to contemporary Afro-pop, yet converge in their thematic engagement with moral responsibility, resilience, gender construction, and communal continuity.
This paper compares the interplay of science and religion in the Foundation series (Isaac Asimov) to the Dune series (Frank Herbert). In the Foundation series, science has displaced religion in the future, though religion is present on various planets at various times, but only as a calculated political hoax or a false system of belief and practice. Salvor Hardin passes technological devices off as magical in the Four Kingdoms surrounding Terminus and a naïve priesthood emerges. On Comporellon, Trevise, who is in search of the Second Foundation, is immediately arrested. He meets with First Minister Lizalor and learns that Comporellon is a fundamentalist religious state which regards marriage as a sacrament, condemning the sexual relationship of two of his companions. But in Dune, religion and science go hand in hand with Paul Atreides (Muadib) becoming the Dune Messiah, and using his own powers (the voice), the Fremen, sandworms and blasters to defeat House Harkonnen. The religion is later codified and reified following the triumph and disappearance of Muadib. The Fremen and the Bene Gesserit are deeply religious groups who develop narratives to justify their oft times questionable practices. Leto, the son of Muadib, becomes the God Emperor of Dune, half human and half divine. So, in the Dune series the power of religion is central from the rise and disappearance of Muadib to the transmogrification of Leto.
This paper conveys a legitimate role of poetry to society. The introductory background conveys the role of poetry in society. The students' languages learning process for improvement of understanding and decoding of the symbiotic relationships of diction and literary art are made bare. It further portrays the importance and significance of poetry to students and society. The set objectives manifest a better scrutiny of poetry in unavailing the inner perimeters of poetry analysis; the use of appropriate diction, symbols and the moral lessons attached to poems and other literary art. Based on Barthes symbiotic theory, the paper digresses the connotative and denotative use of language in Lenrie Peters' poem 'The Panic of Growing Older'. Though the theory's major focus is on symbolism and didactive meaning of work of art, how best such diction and symbols can be helpful in the interpretation of a poem are brought to bear in the analysis and discussions in this paper. The analysis of the poem translates the serious stages of man's life on earth. The discussion does not only interpret what is indicated by the poet but relay them to the knowledge of the irreversible ageing features to set a tone for awareness and expected domain one finds himself or herself at that stage of life as described by the Lenrie Petters. Certainly, the paper gears towards the lessons shared in the poem to direct the upcoming youth on expectant challenges to be prepared for as on keeps growing which is inevitable. The brilliant use of diction to denote the intention of the poet is also discussed.
Popular culture is the set of practices, beliefs, and objects that embody the most broadly shared meanings of a social system and it appeals to people because it provides opportunities for both individual happiness and communal bonding. Culture is very important in the formation of certain group identities and technology becomes a tool in transforming cultural identity. South Korea has become the powerhouse of popular culture, especially in Asia. The Hallyu has huge effects on societies and people. The Korean Wave (Hallyu) refers to the global popularity of South Korea’s cultural economy exporting pop culture, entertainment, music, TV dramas, and movies. Korean pop popularly referred to as K-pop is a term that has been in use since the early years of the 21st century. South Korea is rising not only in the entertainment industry but also in all fields and begins to take a significant place in the world. Over the past few years, it has been observed that more and more Indian youth have been getting into Korean Pop Culture. From K-dramas, and K-pop to K-culture, no phenomenon has ever seen such mass fan participation, liking, and acceptance. Thus, this study aims to decode and understand what causes this undeniable affinity to cultural products of the Korean wave and to find the key reasons behind the popularity of Korean Pop Culture. It also examines the significant factors that entice people to pop culture.
Colonialism has meaningfully participated in the change of many things in African world. Form social degradation to environmental change, African society remains politicized by new colonial settings. These settings are built through the colonial order and continue to impact African people’s lives. In Nigeria, like anywhere in Africa, social phenomena have changed with the effects of colonialism. The present paper explores “Literature” and “Society” as two foundational social and political figures in the exploration of human life. Buchi Emecheta and Helon Habila’s The Joys of Motherhood (1979) and Oil on Water (2010) are special works when talking about Women’s conditions and sociopolitical realities before, during, and after colonial rule. Through close reading and theories developed in relation to the most relevant themes in these two novels, we seek to explore women's conditions, the consequence of oil production, social change, and social struggle. The present work investigates the dynamic relationships between literature and society, examining how literary texts shape and are shaped by the social, political, and cultural conditions. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives from sociological literary criticism, this research paper underscores literature’s role as a mirror and a critique of societal structures, ideologies, and transformations. Helon Habila and Buchi Emecheta give two important representative images of African postcolonial society and politics. They develop in the selected novels African post-colonial social facts in relation to their social and political concerns, more precisely their country, Nigeria. Emecheta explores women conditions while Habila tries to analyze the effects of oil exploitation in postcolonial context. This review is an analysis of social representation of women’s conditions and oil production in Africa.
Reading picture books to young children is expected to develop their cognition and imagination and contribute to the acquisition of their knowledge of and attitudes toward various things and phenomena. This study created a science picture book about guinea pigs and examined the effects of reading it on young children’s knowledge of and attitudes toward animals. Interviews were conducted with 81 five-year-old kindergarteners (47 boys and 34 girls) in pre- and post-reading sessions. Each child was asked about the physical characteristics and ecology of guinea pigs, proper care for them, and their attitudes toward guinea pigs and other animals. After reading, the children’s animal knowledge significantly improved, and more came to believe that all animals, including guinea pigs, had emotions. Regardless of the experience of keeping pets, the children deepened their knowledge and understanding of animals. Girls scored higher than boys in terms of knowledge of proper care. These findings suggest that picture books function effectively as a medium for developing knowledge of and empathic attitudes toward animals. Educators should focus more on knowledge of caregiving behaviors, especially for boys. Children can indirectly encounter animals through picture books, which foster their understanding of and empathy toward animals. Furthermore, the characteristics of guinea pigs as rodents appeared in the picture book, were considered to strengthen the effects on young children. These findings can contribute to the design of animal education programs that use picture books and educational materials for other animal species.
This article explores social atomism in Teju Cole’s Open City through the lens of Georg Simmel’s urban sociology. Julius, the novel’s Nigerian-German narrator, emerges as a quintessential figure of emotional detachment shaped by the conditions of modern metropolitan life. The novel’s depiction of New York City—fractured by architectural disjointedness, socio-economic disparity, and pervasive anonymity—constructs a spatial environment that nurtures isolation and withdrawal. These urban conditions directly shape Julius’s psychological reserve and solitary disposition. Social atomism in Open City is reflected across three dimensions of Julius’s life: his inability to confront his past, seen most starkly in his emotional withdrawal from Moji’s accusation and his erasure of personal memory; his alienation in public spaces, expressed through his aimless urban wanderings and psychological detachment from the crowds around him; and his distant or failed interpersonal relationships, including his estrangement from family, his disconnection from his lover, university professor, neighbor, and his inability to sustain solidarity with members of his own ethnic community. Though he occasionally reaches toward connection through memory, conversation, or gestures of empathy, these attempts are consistently undermined by the blasé attitude and emotional reserve that Simmel identifies as core to urban modernity. Julius’s detachment ultimately underscores a broader vision of city life, where fleeting solidarities prove inadequate to counter the isolating pressures of the metropolis. Open City thus offers a portrait of urban existence defined by disconnection, where individuals, like Julius, drift alone among the social atoms of the city.
Post-colonial fiction by Indian authors writing in English attempts to recover the marginalized history of the struggle of minority populations which has been rendered invisible in the dominant historiography of Partition and Independence. Mukul Kesavan’s Looking Through Glass, published by Ravi Dayal in 1995, attempts to recover and re-member a history that is not easily available to his generation, yet one that plays a powerful role in shaping the nation's identity through its very unavailability and suppression. One of the problematics that he interrogates in his novel is that of the disempowerment that results from unquestioningly accepting the historiography that has been constructed for the nation by the ruling powers. Kesavan attempts to disturb the settled national historiography through his narrative technique of ‘fabulous realism’ through which he aims to revise history in order to probe its potential for possibilities for change other than those emerging in the present. The novel attempts a re-vision of the events from 1942-1947 from a different angle, using the trope of the camera and zoom lens, through the sensibility of the post-colonial/post-Independence/post-Partition citizen who is living through the aftermath of these events but chooses to disregard the weight of the past in the shaping of his present identity. Kesavan is emphasizing the need to understand, or experience, the past as opposed to simply knowing the facts in order to construct knowledge about the nation, and to make a dynamic connection between the past and the present. Kesavan re-constructs history by literally putting it back together piece by piece, re-membering it, illustrating how the present has been slowly and painstakingly built on the sites created by the past. By alienating the readers from the taken for granted familiarity of mundane, everyday landscape (and events) he is forcing them to deconstruct its present form and re-vision it as rising out of the past.
Given its meaningful and artistic values, Indonesian keris has been recognized by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage. However, contrary to the values in Indonesian culture, many view keris as a mystical object and even consider it an infidel. Keris manifests power and strengths. This interpretation needs to be restored to preserve the cultural meaning associated with keris. The inquiry on the mythological code/symbol of keris is a follow-up research from previous theses (Myth of Mahesa Sura; Toponymy of the Ancient Nusantara Perspective; and Batik Mythology, Meaning of Code, Function, and Strengthening of its Industry (Oral Tradition Perspective), which points to the relevance of mythological symbols in batik and keris. The present study highlights the critical role of triangulating findings about the power of ancient kings manifested in the Blambangan keris. It aims to disseminate findings on (1) the mythology of the creation of Blambangan keris, (2) the meaning embedded in the Blambangan keris motifs, and (3) the function of keris in Blambangan tradition, from the Indonesian oral tradition lens. This study was conducted using a qualitative-critical ethnographic design with a multi-interdisciplinary approach covering mythology, toponymy, semiotics, linguistics, archeology, and arts. Data were garnered through (a) documentation, (b) observation, (c) free-in-depth interviews. The data were analyzed usingcritical ethnography theory coupled with interactive flow model analysis with modifications. This study portrayed a comprehensive narrative about the mythology of the kings in Indonesia based on existing cultural products, especially keris. It corroborates previous studies noting that the symbols on the Blambangan keris indicate that Medang Kawulan existed and that Blambangan was established in Jember region, East Java. Keris mythology can inform the development learning resources and the Indonesian keris industry. This becomes increasingly crucial as keris has experienced economic secularization (profane) into freely traded goods such as replicas, displays, ornaments, and merchandise, leading to the segregation between keris and family/ancestor/lineage symbols.
This article explores the dilemmas of cultural communication through the lens of Xu Bing’s groundbreaking calligraphic art. Chinese calligraphy, rooted in the unique structure of Chinese characters, serves as both a visual and cultural symbol, traditionally valued for its abstract beauty and expressive potential. Xu Bing’s art, especially his New English Calligraphy and works such as Book from the Sky and A Case Study of Transference, innovatively combines Eastern and Western elements, challenging the conventional boundaries of language and culture. By deconstructing and reconstructing written language, Xu Bing addresses issues of cultural identity, miscommunication, and globalisation, creating artworks that invite diverse audiences to reconsider the role and meaning of text. His practice reflects not only a critique of cultural ideology but also a methodological transformation required by contemporary society. Through the transformation and fusion of artistic languages, Xu Bing’s work exemplifies how art can serve as a bridge across cultures, fostering dialogue and understanding in an increasingly globalised world.
Philosophical counseling is a contemporary practice that applies philosophy to personal dilemmas. Many people perceive it as a modern invention, but this article challenges that perception by tracing the history of philosophy as a practical art of living. The central thesis is that philosophical counseling is not a new field but a revival of philosophy’s original purpose, which was largely eclipsed by the professionalization of academia and the rise of psychology. This history begins with Socrates, who positioned self-examination as the key to a worthwhile life. The article then explores the Hellenistic schools, Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Skepticism, which explicitly functioned as therapies for the soul, offering frameworks to achieve tranquility and human flourishing. The article follows this tradition into the Middle Ages, where it was sublimated into theology, with figures like Boethius using philosophy as a consolation for suffering. A humanistic revival occurred in the Renaissance with thinkers like Montaigne. The Modern Era saw a great divergence, as philosophy became an increasingly abstract academic discipline, ceding personal problems to the burgeoning field of psychology. The 20th century, however, saw seeds of a revival. Existentialism and logotherapy refocused on issues of meaning, freedom, and anxiety. Finally, the article details the formal re-emergence of the practice in the late 20th century, as pioneers like Gerd Achenbach and Lou Marinoff re-established philosophy as a direct service to the public. The article concludes that philosophical counseling is a return to its roots, reasserting philosophy’s enduring value as a guide for addressing the fundamental challenges of human existence.
There are certain commonalities and differences between document forensic examination and calligraphy and painting authentication. A large part of the authentication of the authenticity of calligraphy and painting can be solved through the methods of document forensic examination. For example, the authenticity of the constituent elements in calligraphy and painting, such as poetry, calligraphy, painting, seal, and paper, overlaps with document forensic examination. Calligraphy and painting authenticators should possess certain professional knowledge and technical means of document forensic examination. However, the scope of calligraphy and painting authentication is broader than that of document forensic examination, also including cultural background, structural characteristics, stylistic traits of the artists, and mounting of the calligraphy and painting. With the continuous improvement of forgery techniques in calligraphy and painting, traditional authentication methods of calligraphy and painting cannot meet the current development trend of authentication. How to improve the scientificity and objectivity of calligraphy and painting authentication? The author believes that theoretical methods of calligraphy and painting authentication should be innovated, traditional inspection methods should be updated, and modern instruments should be utilized for systematic authentication and scientific methods to continuously improve the level of calligraphy and painting authentication. The author explores how to enhance the professionalism of calligraphy and painting authenticators, improve the scientificity and objectivity of calligraphy and painting authentication, and how document forensic examiners authenticate calligraphy and painting.
The article analyzes, in its first part, the image of Ferrara and the role of time in Bassani’s novels, with particular attention to the urban chronotope he crafted, where the history of the deportation of Ferrarese Jews intertwines with the city’s topography, establishing a division between the Ferrara of the saved and that of the submerged. The article then focuses on the autobiographical element, strongly implicated in Bassani’s narration, where everything is filtered through memory, which, while faithfully rendering the city’s history and geography, simultaneously transforms it into a “fantastic,” mental place. This is as required by authentic art, by the great tradition of the historical novel, which Bassani defended in a famous controversy against the Italian Neo-avant-garde (the Gruppo 63) and in his quieter critique of the French Nouveau Roman. In this context, the second part of the study offers a reading of The Heron, the fifth chapter of The Novel of Ferrara, perhaps the most mature fruit of Bassani’s narrative. The novel aligns with the themes of Francis Bacon’s Neo-Expressionist painting and its variant, the Existential Realism of Alberto Sughi, discussed by Giuseppe Raimondi, one of Bassani’s mentors in art writing during his Bologna years. This is followed by a detailed account of the development of The Heron, with attention to the functioning of narrative time and, above all, to the theme of guilt and its redemption, linked to the story of the Ferrarese Jews and addressed repeatedly, in verse and prose, also by Primo Levi.
This paper examines the symbolic role of the elevator in Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half (2020) and Nella Larsen’s Passing (1929), with particular attention to its connection to colorism and identity crisis. Set almost a century apart, these novels illuminate the enduring complexities of racial passing in the United States, where skin tone stratification shapes access to privilege and belonging. The elevator, far from being a mere mechanical device, emerges as a metaphorical stage for the negotiation of race, class, and selfhood. Through the dual application of Postcolonial Theory and Critical Race Theory (CRT), the study demonstrates how elevator scenes dramatize both aspiration and entrapment. Frantz Fanon’s reflections on the “mask” and W. E. B. Du Bois’s concept of double consciousness help illuminate the fractured selfhood of characters like Stella Vignes and Irene Redfield, who experience upward social movement only at the cost of authenticity and psychic security. CRT further situates these struggles within systemic racial hierarchies, exposing how legal and cultural constructs of race sustain barriers that passing can only temporarily circumvent. By comparing the earlier twentieth-century Harlem Renaissance text with a contemporary African American novel, this article highlights the transhistorical persistence of passing as both a strategy of survival and a source of alienation. Ultimately, elevators embody a paradox: they lift characters into spaces of prestige and temporary acceptance while simultaneously reminding them of the fragility of such an elevation. In both works, mobility is revealed to be precarious, conditional, and psychologically burdensome. The analysis thus contributes to scholarship on African American literature by proposing the elevator as a powerful symbol that encapsulates the paradoxes of racialized existence. Elevators become not simply vehicles of transport but metaphors for the precarious balance between aspiration and authenticity, privilege and exposure, belonging and estrangement in a racially divided society.
