When I think about Jack, he’s not one of the main character’s that come’s to mind when I think of Passing, however he is an important character. Jack is white and wealthy and oozes privilege and ignorance. He’s married to Clare and doesn’t know she’s mixed. Clare even jokingly asks, “‘My goodness, Jack! What difference would it make if, after all these years, you were to find out that I was one or two percent colored?'”(pg.68). Jack regularly calls Clare a racist nickname and she questions what he would do if she was even a little bit black. He doesn’t see this question as a problem because he ‘knows’ she isn’t. I find it interesting how someone who has such strong opinions about Black’s (without even interacting with them of course) is married to one. It’s quite amusing actually that the people he hates are literally who he ‘love’s’ and who he’s married to. 

I do sort of question though how much he loves Clare. Because, when you look at Clare she’s definitely a spectacle and maybe that was one thing he was looking for, a person of intrigue. He makes himself out to be the perfect white man so maybe he was looking for that perfect shiny toy of a trophy wife. Whether it be his ignorance or stupidity though he was also the perfect man for Clare since he wasn’t questioning her race which made him an easy person to marry. He’s white, and doesn’t suspect Clare so she can live a good life and reap the benefits of being with someone white while she acts as the perfect trophy wife. 

The ending however sort of exposes the concept of ‘ignorance is bliss’. When Jack finds Clare by the balcony and finally starts to put together who she might be is when everything starts to go down south and Clare falls to her death. He’s definitely part of that reason for her death because he stayed oblivious the whole time and then as soon as he decided to be more aware the worst happened. You could conclude that this is what happens when you leave ignorance unaddressed.