From that final scene:
Quote:
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What happened next, Irene Redfield never afterwards allowed herself to remember. Never clearly.
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You can't get much more ambiguous than that. Yes, it's apparent that the reader is supposed to think that Irene
might have pushed Clare, but we know Irene to be passive and unreliable (she's the only character in this story that we actually know well). Can we believe she has finally been driven to actually taking action? Or does it mean that she's not allowing herself to remember her own passivity (not pushing, not saving). Or maybe - and this seems likely to me - it was merely the action of Irene arriving and laying a hand on Clare that caused Clare to step back. Thus Irene can imagine herself to have been responsible, and so not allow herself to remember.
Throw into the mix the practicality of it. I see that last tableau to be three people in very close proximity: Clare, Irene and Jack Bellew. Could one of them push Clare without it being obvious? That seems very unlikely to me. Had Jack done it, Irene should have no qualms about accusing him. Had Irene done it, I imagine Jack would have welcomed the chance to have his revenge on her (for killing his wife, who he shows affection for even in this final scene; and for being part of deceiving Jack). No, I just don't see how it is practical for one of them to have pushed Clare without it being obvious.
If this book was all about race the ending would have been Jack pushing Clare, but I think most of us see that as the least likely solution. If Irene pushed Clare then ending the book in this manner becomes a cop-out, this is Irene's story and how can we stop right when she's been driven out of her passivity? But, as an accident, it gives the author a convenient place to close the narrative, having said what she came to say.