Cutter says of Brian Redfield: "Brian has rather reluctantly but solidly assumed his allotted place as a part of the black heterosexual middle class in America, despite the fact that he abhors his country's racism and his own profession and has no physical desire for his wife, calling sex a joke...He has suppressed the conflicts in his identity, the knowledge that he is in fact passing for something he does not want to be" (85).

Irene's ignorance and Brian's dissillousionment play a major role in this dialogue again, as Brian attempts to dissillousion Irene out of her ignorance by flagrantly disregarding his wife's personal feelings when attacking both a key element of their marriage and of humanity in general.

1. Cutter, Martha J.. "Sliding Significations: Passing as a Narrative and Textual Strategy in Nella Larsen's Fiction". Passing and the Fictions of Identity. Durham and London: Duke University, 1996.

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