Cutter says of Irene here: "Any disruption of Irene's world frightens her greatly, and she fights off threats 'to that security of place and substance which she insisted upon for her sons and in a lesser degree for herself'...and yet, although she claims to be pleased with 'the easy monotony'...of her life, contradictions within her behavior reveal that she too is 'passing'" (87).

Yet, as frightened as Irene is, we see that she once again muffles her frustration, as she tries to do with Brian earlier in the chapter with his desire to go to Brazil. Throughout the book we see Irene's temper rise and fall underneath a consistently calm and passive temperment, which builds to and gives depth to the climactic scene at the end of the novel. The one point where Irene's emotions could have gotten the best of her is left up to the reader's interpretation, and this moment is a building block upon which the reader can make their final decision.

1. Cutter, Martha J.. "Sliding Significations: Passing as a Narrative and Textual Strategy in Nella Larsen's Fiction". Passing and the Fictions of Identity. Durham and London: Duke University, 1996.