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Old 02-27-2018, 08:07 AM   #132
gmw
cacoethes scribendi
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Postscript: I recognise that my previous post (my use of "protest too much") sounds a bit strange, so I'm going to try one more time to explain myself...

I am not certain whether my reaction comes from my distrust of Irene as a character, or my expectation of Nella Larsen as a writer. It's probably a bit of both. Together they are protesting too much, presumably for some ulterior motive. Irene need only have claimed that she didn't want to remember; she didn't have to keep pushing the "will they think I did it?" in our face. In combination with the practicalities of trying to push someone out the window - without being noticed, but while they're all watching - it's all too much. The obvious conclusion (based on Irene's excessive hints) doesn't feel credible, and it seemed to me that the author expected me to feel this way, that she kept pushing so I would feel this way. (Do I give her too much credit?)

That reaction led to my conclusion when I first read it: Irene believes she was responsible, but it was really just an unfortunate accident - Clare stepped back as Irene got close. This has an absolute minimum requirement for actions that we are not told about (no pushing or shoving or turning around, just a backward step). My only problem with this is that I would have expected Clare to give voice to her fright as she fell out the window. (If the "gasp of horror" is Clare's then it fits an accident quite well, but I still would have expected more.) All the subsequent behaviour we see from Irene is just as consistent with Irene believing herself responsible (sincerely or not, that's a separate argument) as it is with her actually being responsible.

It's only later in our discussion that I have given any sort of serious consideration to suicide - I still don't like it much, but it's a solution that can be made to exactly fit the text of the last scene (even if it doesn't fit my understanding of Clare's character).
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