Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
Irene stops her thoughts at the point of laying her hand on Clare's arm; it doesn't mean that was the end of her actions. Irene refuses to go beyond that point--and clearly SOMETHING happened beyond that, something that should have been obvious to Irene--Clare pulling away to commit suicide, or tripping backward, or, as I am convinced, being pushed by Irene. Which of those would Irene so sternly repress?
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I've said all along that Irene may believe herself to be responsible*, and that would be quite sufficient for her to want to repress the feeling. So I don't think you can conclude there was an actual push, just from that reaction.
* If you're feeling threatened (your angry husband is confronting you), and some other person rushes into your personal space, isn't it reasonable to suppose that you might step back without remembering there's an open window behind you? And if you are the one that causes this reaction, isn't it reasonable to suppose that you might blame yourself for this reaction?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
[...] I think Irene's unreliability is most apparent in the final scenes, and yet those are the ones in which you seem to take her at her word.
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I assume the reported actions and words are true, albeit not always complete (either because Irene didn't witness or because she chooses not to tell us), but Irene's thoughts, her interpretation of these events, are not to be trusted.
For me this final scene feels flawed, not fully consistent, regardless of whether Clare was pushed, jumped or fell. If the author had told us explicitly (perhaps in some concluding sentence), I think we'd all have been picking at the flaws (even if not in the same way) rather than defending some particular manner of death. (In that respect the ending is quite clever, we are diverted from the flaws.) So while it has been fun to talk about what seems most in character, I don't think any solution is all that satisfying.