To be honest, I neither Clare nor Irene struck me as very admirable or sympathetic characters. In the beginning, I could definitely sympathize with Irene, but as the story progressed I found it harder to understand her and her hypocrisy.
However, given the choice between Clare and Irene, I would choose Irene as the more sympathetic character simply because she has some redeeming qualities to me that I just could not find in Clare. Clare’s blatant rejection of her own racial identity and her active way of othering black people in her social-climbing pursuits not only irritated me, but it also made me feel really uncomfortable with her. I could not bring myself to trust or like her as a character at all for this reason, let alone sympathize with or admire her. Yes, the black experience is an extremely difficult and unpleasant one, especially in America during the early twentieth century, but that doesn’t excuse Clare’s use of her ivory skin to pass as white so as not to have to deal with being an African American woman.
I can definitely sympathize with Irene’s anger at Clare and her husband John’s behavior when race comes up. Although Irene does take advantage of her lighter skinned, racially ambiguous appearance, at least she remains faithful to her sense of racial identity.
