Claudia is a woman in her sixties in the body of a small girl. The description of her crying reads like a a small child’s behavior, while also feeling intentionally feminine. It feels like even the present (narrator) Louis does not realize extent to which this feels like a performance. Despite having very much letting her mask slip and allowing Louis to see what a calculating, ruthless killer she is, she manipulates him by playing into both his parental and romantic feelings toward her. And it works. Ye gods does this hit differently after a couple decades of life experience.
