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"I felt confused, and also inadequate: whatever it was he was asking or demanding, it was beyond me. This was the first time a man would expect more from me than I was capable of giving, but it would not be the last."

This quotation occurs in Part III, when Iris’s father takes her to lunch and explains things about how the family business works. Although Iris is too young to understand at the time, Norval Chase is beginning to accept that he may never have a son now that his wife is dead. In that case, as the elder daughter, Iris will be the heir to the Chase business. Because he is not very emotionally intelligent, Norval doesn’t notice that his daughter is also grieving, scared, and confused. Bombarding her with information she is too young and inexperienced to understand only makes things worse. With her mother’s death, Iris is forced to take on a lot of responsibility that she is ill-equipped to handle.

This quotation also foreshadows Iris’s future unhappy relationships with men and implies that her dynamic with her father sets the stage for her to pursue unhealthy relationships. Iris has witnessed the unhappy dynamic of her parents’ marriage, and now her father puts his own needs ahead of her well-being. Later, Richard will be similarly selfish, and Iris will only recognize these signs too late because she expects these behaviors from men and the corresponding passivity of women. She grows up expecting men to think only of themselves and their priorities, so she eventually tolerates the way Richard treats her. Even in her relationship with Alex Thomas, Iris often assumes the role of being submissive and trying to do whatever she can to please him.

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