Many of the internal and external conflicts Belle da Costa Greene encounters in the novel arise from the novel’s historical period and cultural context. One specific source of conflict is Belle’s attempt to navigate increasingly discriminatory laws that limit the personal and professional options open to Black Americans in the years between the Civil War and World War I. Writers in the American literary tradition explore these tensions in the passing narrative, a genre that centers protagonists who choose to live as white to avoid the burden and dangers of a racist world.

The passing narrative sometimes features a white-presenting Black woman who is unaware of her Blackness until some pivotal event (generally during childhood) helps her to discover that she is Black. The young protagonist then learns the cost of being Black in a racist, segregated country. Another convention is the discovery that passing allows the protagonist to escape racism. However, as the protagonist lives as a white person, they are constantly confronted with the psychological toll of their decision and the feeling that passing is an evasion of their responsibility to Black people.