Rsponse to Passing POst

Many things in this book stood out to me, such as the inevitable result of anything red (clare stole money from her father to buy a red dress, she wore a red dress when she died/fainted), significant when you think of the symbolic significance of red--passion, desire the explanations of things that don't necessarily need explanations (like that brian was looking at clare...) and yet the ambiguity of things that need to be explained (I'm still confused whether Clare died or fainted...),drop dead dead. Went out the window etc.
However, the thing that reoccurred often was the child/family things. In fact, the weirdest thing about Clare was her utter lack of interest in her daughter.The first example of this is when she's talking to Irene the first time in a while, Clare only mentions Margery as a side-note when she's inviting Irene to join them for tea. Another example of this is when Irene is trying to get Clare to leave her alone (sort of) and she says "There's your little girl, Clare. Think of the consequences to her." And Clare seems to not even have thought of Margery, even though Irene did. It's also very strane how she talks about Margery in that awful sene in her apartment. She says she spent her whole pregnancy terrified that Margery would be "dark," suggesting that she thought little about the child herself and more about the ramifications for her passing. In addition, she sounds regretful by responding "I think that being a mother is the cruellest thing in the world." Although Irene agrees with this statement, she also brings up that Clare could lose her child if Mr. Bellew finds out. Although they are interrupted by the phone, Clare then invites herself to a function that is risking her child. Additionally, she mentions that she could "Kill Jack" and that she expects she "shall someday." Irene replies that he didn't do anything, clare was the one who put herself in that mess. Later on, Clare says that "Children aren't everything" when Irene mentions Margery again. Even later, when Irene mentions Margery, Clare says that "[Margery] is the only thing holding me back." These things do not seem very .. motherly to me. When we first start with Irene in Chicago, Irene is searching for the present that her child wants, going in and out of shops until she's tired. By the end, she's staying away from her children because Clare is there and being adored by them. In a way, i think that Clare wished so much to be in Irene's place that she willed herself there. It took until the last parts of the book for Irene to consciously notice, and by then, it seemed too late. She can't tell Clare's husband that Clare is black, because she realizes then, Clare will have nothing stopping her to take everything that irene has. In the beginning, Irene believes that Brian is "fond" of her. Towards the end, she thinks he sees her as purely his child's mother. Evidence? There could be a lot of things the author is trying to say, but I think it may be the fact that Clare's passing always got her something, such as everything irene had, but Irene's passing made her almost lose everything. Even though Irene didn't lose everything, in the end, what did she gain? Nada.
Ok, whoa. Lots and lots to think about here. First, how is Irene passing? Passing as happy in her marriage and family? The fact that Clare tries to take Irene's place seems less about the kids and more about greed and the desire for things she can't have, including the "perfect" family. Irene has always had that (ex: think of her parents and how kind they were), and Clare seems determined to take all that Irene has.
Now, for a so what. The most obvious so what you take us to is that the author shows passing is bad. Not really debatable. To make this workable, you'll need to narrow your "what" and focus on either Irene and her desire to pass as the perfect wife and mother without being emotionally invested in it, or focus on Clare and her relationship to motherhood. What do we see from her lack of connection to Margery and her obsessive attention to Irene's kids? Is the author showing something about the nature of motherhood? Go to your evidence. See where it leads you.