Her true identity, that is, what differentiates her from other women is "cloud" like now, and what is more real is her central object, her womb, her fertility. Much more real than her entirety.

Also symbolizes the way men pick women apart into components rather than as a whole.

This here is what signifies what is wrong with men's perceptions of women. The "long parentheses of nothing", unfilled time, is erotic of women, being devoid of life, to men. Men have always been this way.

Irony in the "Alone at last", as she really hates it. She'd rather have Serena there, in all hypocrisy of her misery, she'd rather go through the ceremony -- in the end none is best, men are men, any sort of rape is uncomfortable for her. The men have not changed.

She then knows she is the outside woman. She is the outside woman of the outside woman. She is just one of many pawns to complete the Commander's incompleteness temporarily

This shows the disconnect between the understanding of the severity of the situation. He is still playing with her when she is in fear of her own death, as if it is a simple and equal transaction.

Men don't understand, he is patronising her in the way that a job is not just a job but a sense of power, of individuality and a duty, which Serena Joy keeps trying to find in her knitting and in her garden.