Bob Kendry
Passing (Nella Larsen Edition)Bob Kendry, Clare Kendry’s father, appears through Irene Redfield’s memories as a janitor with an obscure past and as a parent whose death leaves a lasting mark on Clare’s childhood. His limited presence in the narrative nevertheless helps establish the uncertain social position of the family and the early experiences through which Irene understands Clare.
Identity and Background
Bob Kendry worked as a janitor in the building where Clare earned money by running errands for a dressmaker who lived upstairs. Irene recalls that Bob had been in college with some of the fathers of her own circle, but the reason he became a janitor was unknown to the children. Irene’s brother once asked their father about Bob’s circumstances and was told that the matter did not concern him; the response also warned him against ending up like “poor Bob.” The remark suggests a judgment about Bob’s life, but Irene’s recollection supplies no explanation for it.
Family Life and Clare’s Childhood
Irene remembers Clare as a small girl sewing bright red pieces of cloth together while Bob, described in the recollection as drunk, raged around the room and sometimes frightened her. Clare had taken part of the small weekly wage she earned running errands to buy material for a new dress. She knew taking the money was unsafe, but wanted to wear the dress to her Sunday school picnic and did not let that danger change her decision. The episode places Bob within a household marked by poverty and tension, while also showing Clare’s early determination to pursue what she wanted.
Death and Its Aftermath
Bob was killed in a saloon fight when Clare was just fifteen. Irene, who was a year or more older, remembers Clare first standing silently beside her father’s body, then breaking into a sudden outburst of grief before looking around the bare room and leaving. In retrospect, Irene reads the display as pent-up fury as much as grief, while acknowledging that Clare had been fond of Bob in her own way. The memory resists a simple account of their bond: Clare’s response combines attachment with anger, and Bob’s death becomes part of Irene’s understanding of the emotional contradictions she sees in his daughter.
