Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
I agree. It's not convincing that Jack suddenly thinks Irene is black simply because she's walking next to a black woman. I also wonder if Jack would even recognize Irene after such a long time, and in another context, after the brief summer meeting.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by astrangerhere
I respectfully disagree with you both. This is something that could still today happen in the American South. I live in a college town, and I would be willing to bet money that these sorts of assumptions based on the people you are with still happen very frequently with the young college-aged women.
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I didn't make my meaning clear. In fact, I don't think Jack would have recognized Irene. He had met a white woman, a friend of his wife's, months earlier; he wouldn't, IMO, have recognized her in the obviously black woman (judging by her companion) he met on the street, and who would have been dressed in a coat and winter hat as well. He wouldn't even have looked that closely at two black women. The reality is that most people have some difficulty in recognizing people out of context, even people they know quite well in other circumstances.
My point was, that I didn't believe in this chance encounter and it was the key to the denouement.