Nella Larsen's Passing (and exposure)

"What right...had Clare Kendry to expose her, or even Gertrude Martin, to such humiliation, such downright insult?" p.46 of Passing by Nella Larsen

What some of our members thought:

"I feel like Clare was rubbing her high opinion of her own cleverness in their faces; how she is deceiving her husband in just about every way important to him, and by having them there and introducing them with no warning to her husband they got a small taste of just how close she lives to discovery. I think she almost hoped to trip one of them up, so she could show them how superior she was.

Maybe she subconsciously WANTED them to trip up and expose them all, so she wouldn’t have to live such a huge lie all her life. Maybe she just had a very nasty sense of humor." -L

"I think Clare's adrenals must be perpetually fatigued. I mean, how do you live a life of passing (to a raving racist, to boot!) without living under constant anxiety?" -E

"She seemed really smug to me. I felt that she was showing off to her friends that she could get away with passing. Her desire to spend time with her black friends made me think that she was looking for attention. It was like a 'See what I can do? Don't you envy me?' attitude." -G

"I think the past years of her life and then the stress of Passing messed up her mind. To me, it seemed like she was trying to get found out so she could get out of that stressful lifestyle." -C

Nella Larsen's Passing (and exposure)

What do you think?