This document provides an agenda for an EWRT 1B class that includes: 1) A presentation on literary terms followed by a discussion of the short story "Leaves" by Sui Sin Far and the novel Gentleman's Agreement about passing. 2) A discussion of why people pass as another identity, what identity means, and whether it is real or constructed. 3) Information about the final essay assignment and exam due dates.

1. EWRT 1B

2. Agenda
 Countdown
 Presentation: Terms
 Discussion:
Gentleman’s Agreement
and “Leaves”
 Why do people pass?
What is identity? Is it
real or constructed?
 Essay #4: Questions

3.  Friday week 11:
○ Self assessment due before noon.
 Class 20: Wrapping up the course
 Class 21: Final
 Final Exam Comprehensive Terms test
 Research Paper: Essay #4 due before class

5. 17. Scenario: an outline of the plot of a dramatic
work, which provides particulars about characters,
settings, and situation. The term is most often used
for the detailed script of a film or a treatment setting
forth the action in the sequence it is to follow with
detailed descriptions of scenes and characters, and
actual works. Sometimes the plot of a film or
television show is loosely called a scenario.
18. Simile: a figure of speech in which two things,

6. 19. Style: a manner of putting thoughts into words or the
characteristic mode of construction and expression in writing
and speaking. The term is also used for the characteristics of a
literary selection that concern the form of expression rather than
the thought conveyed. Style is usually defined by the writer’s
choice of words, figures of speech, devices, and the shaping of
the sentences and paragraphs. Sometimes, styles are classified
according to time period or individual writers.
20. Theme : the central and dominating idea in a literary work. A
theme may also be a short essay such as a composition. In
addition, the term means a message or moral implicit in any
work of art.

8. In this movie, the main
character both reverse
passes and refuses to
pass. How is this possible?

9. How does his behavior
affect his identity, his
family, and his intimate
relationship?

10. Sui Sin Far: “Leaves
from the Mental Portfolio
of an Eurasian”
And then the little fish
swims around and his
fin is little and , and,
and….. He goes is the
fish tank and he is lost
and…….NO!

11. How can we compare Phil
to Sui Sin Far?
 How does each
resist passing?
 What behaviors
can you
specifically
identify?
 Consider the time
periods:
 Far wrote “Leaves”
in 1890
 Hobson wrote
Gentlemen’s
Agreement in 1946
 Do their
motivations differ?

12. Thinking about
Passing
What is it exactly?
 What is
Identity?
 When is
Identity “real”
and when is it
constructed”?

13. Consider the identity of Dr. Lieberman, the
Jewish physicist in Gentleman’s Agreement,
who says,
“I have no religion so I am not Jewish by religion. Further, I am
a scientist, so I must rely on science, which tells me I am not
Jewish by race, since there is no such thing as a distinct
Jewish race. There is not even such a thing as a Jewish type.
Well, my crusade will have a certain charm. I will simply go
forth and state that I am not a Jew. With my face, that becomes
not an evasion but a new principle, a scientific principle“?
What is his fixed identity category?
Would he be passing if he simply stated he was not a Jew
based on his lack of religion and his scientific assertion that
there is no Jewish race?

14. Are our identities on the inside
or the outside?
 Are transgender people passing?
 If so, what is the fixed identity
category?
 What is the passing category?

15. Can a bio male or female
person have the identity of
“trans” without being called
a passer?

16. How, then, can we parallel this trans
identity and trans passing scenario to
racial identity and racial passing?
Is a person who looks white but is of African
American lineage, also “trans”? When can this
person be “white” without being called a passer?
OR should he or she identify as trans (racial)?

17. Is Race “Real” or Constructed?
• If race is constructed, is Jack
passing?
• Is Clare? Irene?
• Can Sui Sin Far refuse to pass if
race is constructed?

18. Disruption or Stabilization?
 Does this ability to identify as trans
(sexual, gender, racial, ethnic) and pass
or not pass disrupt identity categories or
does it destroy them? How?
 Does “Passing” disrupt or stabilize the
status quo? Can it do both? How?