Clare's identity is defined by her presentation, by the way she appears, how she dresses, and by the makeup and perfume she wears met. She is once again transient but this time depending on her gender. She seems to externally play the role of a model woman. The metaphor of Clare's face as a mask reveals that there is actually something beneath the surface that she is hiding: “Clare's ivory face was what it always was, beautiful and caressing. Or perhaps today a little masked” (220). Clare's wearing a mask allows her to be symbolized even more as a hero of sorts because a hero wears a mask, but it also relates to how she hides her true self by wearing a mask. She has masculine traits such as not being afraid and being willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants (65). She has many more masculine traits than feminine ones. She's not like most women in the 1920s whose job was to be a mother and wife. She doesn't really care about being a mother and even goes so far as to say, "Being a mother is the cruelest thing in the world" (52). Overall, she never worries about being a mother or a wife. We never really see Clare worrying about her daughter's or her husband's happiness solely for her own. Irene, on the other hand, is portrayed as a self-sacrificing woman.