her New Hampshire class she does so to be accepted and a part of the white community. Senna also uses varying interpretations of beauty to show how black female bodies are sexualized and criticized. Senna's description of Samantha Taper in Birdie's (now Jesse Goldman) perspective versus that of Birdie's peers exemplifies the hyper-sexualization of black girl bodies. While Birdie describes Samantha as having "deep-set eyes, caramel complexion..." and "full lips", Birdie's classmates mock her by calling her "Wilona", "disgusting", and "Brown Cow" because she has developed breasts. Even after Samantha begins to over-sexualize herself at the beginning of high school, she is criticized for seeking attention and looking like a hooker. Passing The concept of passing has evolved since the 1960s. Before the civil rights movement and up until the 1970s, literature reflected on the desire to pass as analogous to the desire to bypass legal discrimination. However, literature on passing has been "born again" during post-soul, as a concept used to challenge the institutionalized perceptions of race. In Caucasia, the concept of passing is treated as something less than desirable. The main protagonist, Birdie, does not want to pass, but rather be seen as black. The novel deals with the complex relationship that racial identity has with the self and the external environment. In the novel, Deck raises the argument that "...there is no such thing as passing. We're all just pretending. Race is a complete illusion, make-believe." This dichotomy between the idea that race is fictional, yet manifested in reality is something that is analyzed in several instances throughout the novel. Senna notes how passing can be a disorienting experience for one's identity, and in an interview she said, When you go into passing, you assume that you'll always be clear on the original real self; that the performance will be just the performance. But for Birdie I think that when you do it long enough, you know, that becomes really blurry and dangerous. Your sense of identity becomes really, um, kind of precarious, and nebulous, and so, it became that, for her. For example, Deck takes Cole off to Brazil with him. Sandy takes Birdie because Birdie is able to pass as white, allowing she and her mother to travel more discretely. Passing as a white, Jewish girl in New Hampshire is what makes Birdie run away in the name of "rebellion and renewal". to confront the