From the beginning of The Blacker the Berry, Emma Lou walks us through the color spectrum that she perceives makes a black person less likable or fitting than another. In other words, the darker someone in, the less respected they should be, and vice-versa. Both the novels take the view of the female protagonists – Emma Lou in the Blacker the Berry and Irene in Passing. In many respects, they are similar in the way they hold themselves or judge the people around them. But what is it about them that makes them seem to be unreliable?
For starters, readers are only able to gather what they learn through Emma Lou or Irene. In Emma’s case, we see the dynamic of her life to be centered around the color spectrum that she envisions. Beginning with how her colleagues mocked her because of her skin color, Emma Lou takes this and exacerbates it. It makes every destructive moment of her life be blamed on by her skin tone.
Irene is similar in the sense that she is blameful too. While skin color is less the factor for her fall-out, regardless of the impact it has on the novel as a whole, she was more focused on pointing the finger at Clare. It’s clear that jealousy was a strong motive for Clare’s murder, but throughout the book, readers see the extreme actions Irene claims Clare has done. For example, Clare’s supposed affair with Irene’s husband, Brian.
