Chiara's identity is defined by her presentation, the way she appears, how she dresses, the makeup and perfume she wears. She's dying once again, but this time it's about her gender. She seems to be outwardly playing 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 hides: “Clare's ivory face was what it always was, beautiful and caressing. Or perhaps a little disguised today” (220). Clare's use of a mask allows her to be symbolized even more as a sort of heroine 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 the things she wants (65). He has many more masculine than feminine traits. She is not like most women of the 1920s whose occupation 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 wife. We never see Chiara worrying about her daughter's or her husband's happiness, only her own. Irene on the other hand is depicted as a selfless person