The speaker’s use of an ironic tone states that Paul is white apart from, “when he traveled without his white wife to visit his siblings— / now in New York, now in Harlem, USA—just as pale-skinned, / as straight-haired, as blue-eyed as Paul, and black” (4-6), shows that passing is a personal motive regardless of what influences it, and the idea of double consciousness always applies to those involved. This sense of double identity, its psychological struggles as one of the consequences of passing, and loyalty to one’s race prevent others like Paul’s siblings from passing for white. The speaker supports this fact by stating, “The siblings in Harlem each morning ensured / no one confused them for anything other than what they were, black. / They