Violetta (Violet) Carewicz,Did Irene push Clare out of the window? Why/why not?

Violetta (Violet) Carewicz

Did Irene push Clare out of the window? Why/why not?

At first I thought that Irene possibly and unconsciously pushed Clare out the window. It certainly seemed like Irene was so furious with Clare, and so obsessed with her, that she broke at some point. We saw this build up of emotions escalating and growing through the story. From the moment the women have met after years of separation, through all the meetings, outings, letters, and talks. Irene just could no longer stand Clare. I think she was jealous of her looks, and her money, and the fact that Clare was living as a white woman, and upset that Clare chose that life for herself.
On the other hand Irene saw first hand what kind of life Clare had. She had the looks, the money, the easy life, but she was a caged bird, who had to pretend that she’s someone else. Her life was a secret to most everyone accepts a few friends from her past, and Irene.
Clare definitely liked Irene more that Irene could tolerate Clare. I think that in fact Clare needed Irene, and she trusted her. Clare over time become very close to Irene.
It’s true, that Clare was like a train wreck in a way. Once she started living the double life, she could not stop herself, but she also had a human side to her. She understood her position, she understood the dander she was putting her daughter and herself in, and she knew what people were thinking of her. She apparently was unable to stop any of this. She had to continue with the charade.
Her husband would never accept her if he would know her roots and her past, and her daughter was in constant danger of being confronted by her father, and even disowned by him. Clare knowing all of that was still unable to try to back out of the situation, out of the marriage, or simply stop seeing her African-American friends. She never fully had both sides of the equation under control. At any given moment she could be discovered. She way playing with it. She loved her life because it was easy, and she didn’t want to leave it behind, but she also wanted to be close to her childhood friends. In a normal life, under regular circumstances that would be all right, she could have both. Today she could have both. She wouldn’t have to hide, but then she had to make choices and be afraid of consequences.
Irene was in a very strange state of mind when she started seeing Clare. It seemed like she lost control of her own life. She was still the same Irene, living her normal life, being a mom and a wife, but Clare woke something up in her. Something unusual for a woman like Irene. Irene had all her life in order. She was a control freak, maybe a harmless one, but still a control freak, who would not give up her things, but wouldn’t allow her husband to have what he wanted and needed. She protected her children from reality, and protected her life and family from the unknown of moving to Brazil. She knew her husband wanted that one thing in his life. He wanted to move there, because as an African-American doctor outside of Harlem he still was a colored man, not a doctor.
When Clare reappears in Irene’s life, the well-calculated lives of two women are turned upside down. Clare puts everything on line to see her friends, even if her racist husband would “kill” her for that, and Irene feels like she’s loosing her life, her husband.
Irene becomes enraged, jealous, obsessed, she wants Clare away from her life, but she cannot make herself break the bond, she wants it to happen naturally.
I think Irene wanted Clare out, and she could not stand her anymore. She imagined that Clare and her husband started an affair. She wanted to protect her family from Clare, and the unknown of what Clare’s presence in their life could bring. She knew that Clare always went after things she wanted, consequences were no issue to her. Irene had reasons to believe that Clare may ruin her life. However, at the very last moment before Clare fell out the window, or jumped out the window when confronted by her husband, I strongly believe, that Irene’s conscience kicked in. She put aside everything and wanted to protect Clare from her husband instead of pushing her out.
It’s not clear how Clare ended up outside the window, if she took her own life, if it was an accident, or if Irene or her husband had something to do with Clare’s death. Perhaps it was an accident. I think Irene more than anything wanted to protect Clare from her husband, maybe she tried to grab her but instead she pushed her away. I think Irene felt completely devastated and scared, and even mentally unbalanced after the accident, but not because she caused it, but because she was not able to prevent it, and she tried to do it in the apartment, but the whole meeting and confrontation between Clare and her husband would never even happen if Irene would tell her husband and most of all tell Clare about the chance meeting with Clare’s husband. That probably would prevent the tragedy. So in the end Irene had nothing to do with Clare’s death by pushing her out the window, but she created the situation where Clare lost her life.