Jenny Wu - blog #3

\Re-Encounter re-illustrates all the characters of Passing in moments where we glimpse, for the first time, how Irene's self-perception and perspective limit both her understanding of the other people in her life and our understanding of Passing's cast of characters as an audience of onlookers through Irene's eyes. Irene thinks of herself as an innocent victim of the avarice of Clare Kendry and unfortunate circumstance, but now we see that Irene's own judgments of Clare, Brian, and herself cause a great portion of her own distress, and her misconception of Clare becomes apparent in this particular portion of the narrative. Irene causes herself much angst because she is an emotional person who doesn't initiate proper communication and lacks faith in the people in her life. 
She does not understand humanity, and she does not understand herself. On the very first page of the section, after reading Clare's letter, "she regarded with astonishment that had in it a mild degree of amusement the violence of the feelings it stirred in her," (51). Her anguish stems from her relationships, but she struggles to find ways to fix problems on her own. She is not prosocial. She is a control freak. She imagines the execution of an individual action on her part will and should always produce a proper response in the other person: problem resolved. This schema Irene has is demonstrated in her approach to Brian's desire to go to Brazil. "But it would die. Of that she was certain. She had only to direct and guide her man, to keep him going in the right direction, " (58).
Irene is proper. She wants to live within the lines she was born into, a class and lifestyle dictated by economic and racial status. She has a good husband, two kids, and she looks exactly like the mother and wife she should be. She takes pride in this, and she fears any deviation. With the success of maintaining her situation and her peace of mind, she never questions her thoughts or her perspective. She never once doubts that she is not right about anything. Clare, who by action and personality is a complete contrast to everything Irene, is never fully given Irene's regard. Though Irene inevitably accommodates Clare, she looks upon her words and wishes almost like one would a child. Irene often considers Clare a selfish person and her behavior foolish. At the end of the section, however, we find a conversation where Clare demonstrates an understanding of her behavior and situation that is greater than what Irene would give her credit for. She knows Irene's nature, "It's just that I haven't any proper morals or sense of duty, as you have, that makes me act as I do," and she recognizes her own imminent downfall, which she fully acknowledges might be incriminating to Irene and others, "Why, to get the things I want badly enough, I'd do anything, hurt anybody, throw anything away. Really, 'Rene, I'm not safe," (81). Clare knows herself and she knows Irene. Irene, on the other hand, is almost wilfully oblivious: "I don't believe it," (81).