The anxieties of Emma Lou in the opening of The Blacker the Berry mirror those of Irene in Passing. The thing that sets these two women apart is that Irene is passing and Emma Lou is not. Both novels show the experience of a black person living among white people and its effect of it on them emotionally and psychologically. The fact that both novels are narrated by these women gives the reader an inside look into what goes on in their heads. As unreliable narrators they show the ups and downs of living among white people. In the beginning of Passing, Clare simply taking notice of Irene was enough to induce a feeling of paranoia in her. Before she realized it was Claire she was scared that she had been tagged as negro despite her effort to pass as white. This content worry of being noticed and standing out because of the color of your skin can have substantial effects on a person emotionally. This is apparent in The Blacker the Berry as well. It begins with Emma Lou sitting at graduation waiting to receive her diploma. There a sense of resentment that she feels toward the color of her skin. The relationship that both these women have with their skin color is complicated. It is not the actual color of their skin that they resent; it is how their race effects their place in society. As a white person if is sometimes hard to relate to these feelings. She is “the only negro pupil in the entire school”. Naturally this causes people to treat her differently. It creates a constant struggle for her as she interacts with her peers. She worries more about what people think of her rather than just being able to live her life and be able to be treated the way she wants.
