Iris grows up in a turbulent and dysfunctional home, with her alcoholic mother and gambling father.  As a result of this home life, she learns to keep her emotions to herself and never has many friends.  She constantly tries to reinvent herself throughout the novel, and some may say that, in the end, she finally succeeds.  Iris plays the part of whatever role is asked of her, and does it so well that those around her most often never know the real her at all. 

The passage that I chose to do my hypertext project on concerns her sexual assault at the end of the novel.  The assault has much significance because it is very reminiscent of her interaction with Little Red Garlock at the beginning of the novel, which results in his death.  It begins on page 380 and continues to the end of the chapter, which is the last of the novel, with the exception of the epilogue. 

Iris has wandered far from her home in Syracuse to a seedy diner in a dangerous, and predominantly black, part of town.  She eats her dinner while listening to the conversations of those around her.  John F. Kennedy Jr. has died and "there is nowhere to hide in America, nowhere to escape."  The live emotions are everywhere and Iris is having a difficult time understanding why all of these people, especially the black community, should care that this man died.  Iris attempts to stay out of the conversation and quickly leaves the diner.

From here, Iris is wandering around the town, feeling as if she is far away from her own neighborhood, yet also feeling as if she is back in Lowertown.  Iris is then assaulted by a car full of black men. They surround her and drag her back to the car.  She struggles violently, but there is no way for her to get away from them.  She is sexually assaulted, but it is not technically rape.  This violent, sudden event may be the final event that truly detaches Iris from her feelings forever.