Cutter's view on this passage is as follows: "...What most disturbs Irene about Clare is precisely that she insists on moving back and forth between races...Irene wants Clare to stay in her place, in a fixed and stable identity as the 'white' wife of the racist Jack Bellew" (92).

Irene in this scene is not as concerned for Clare as she is disconcerted that Clare does not accept racial boundaries as Irene does, and her natural instinct in disturbing situations is to stifle whatever manifestations she can.

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.