Race and Identity in Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half

Abstract

Race and identity transformation have been overarching themes in the works of African American writers. Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half (2020) is one fictional work that deals with identical twin sisters: Desiree and Stella Vignes. They are two light-skinned Black sisters who have chosen or rebuilt their identities based on the needs that allow them to live in peace among their communities. This study attempts to trace the importance of race and identity for the African Americans through exploring the lives of these twin sisters who leave their hometown. Through postcolonial critical concepts of identity and race, this research sheds light on the reasons behind the sisters’ decisions to keep or shed their Black identity, as well as their community’s influence on their decision to leave their hometown. This study found that the choices of race and identity the sisters made earlier in their lives identified their fate and established a path for their children. Desiree prefers to maintain her identity by marrying a Black man, and Stella sees her interest in marrying a White man and keeping her past hidden. Kennedy, Stella’s daughter with a White man, and Jude, Desiree’s daughter with a Black man, adhere to their parent’s beliefs regarding race and identity. However, Stella and Desiree still long for their origin and home, and ultimately, they gather again at home they left together.