can American race after years of passing, he believes that people like Clare are “scared enough most of the time, when they give way to the urge and slip back” (Larsen 185). Once Brian meets Clare, Irene witnesses him giving her “one of his amused, slightly mocking smiles” (Larsen 203). Brian, as seen through Irene’s eyes, seems to hold no attraction for people like Clare. However, once she is regularly invited to join their company, Irene begins to feel threatened by her presence. Brian’s personal invitation to Clare at Irene’s tea party confirms her suspicion that he is attracted to her and that they quite possibly could be having an affair. Ironically, “it becomes clear that Redfield sees and admires in [Clare] the chief virtue that he believes is lacking in his wife: a fearless, risk-taking personality that leads her to choose a means, however onerous, to escape the sting of racism in America” (Ravitz 395). Irene’s constant obsession with security drives Brian to admire Clare’s ability to sacrifice her own security in order to be happy. Although Irene’s suspicions are never confirmed, the very fact that Clare disturbs “the pleasant routine of her life” with her “menace of impermanence” causes Irene to realize that she, like Clare must now risk everything in order to have the live she strives for (Larsen 229). In the end, Irene becomes just as depraved as Clare in order to keep her life intact. She “ironically, detail for detail…manifests the same faults for which she so harshly accuses Clare” and with “cold, hard, exploitative and manipulative determination, tries to protect her most cherished attainment: security” (McDowell xxv). Irene never tells her husband or Clare about her suspicion that John Bellows may know that Clare is passing after running into her on the street. Irene is afraid that Cla...
