Subtleties of race and the intricacies of Jamaica’s social hierarchy play an important role in the development of the novel’s main themes. Whites born in England are distinguished from the white Creoles, descendants of Europeans who have lived in the West Indies for one or more generations. Further complicating the social structure is the population of black ex-slaves who maintain their own kinds of social rank. Christophine, for instance, stands apart from the Jamaican servants because she is originally from the French Caribbean island of Martinique. Furthermore, there is a large mixed-race population, as white slave owners throughout the Caribbean and the Americas were notorious for raping and impregnating female slaves. Sandi and Daniel Cosway, two of Alexander Cosway’s illegitimate children, both occupy this middle ground between black and white society.
Interaction between these racial groups is often negative. Antoinette and her mother, however, do not share the purely racist views of other whites on the island. Both women recognize their dependence on the black servants who care for them, feeling a respect that often borders on fear and resentment. In this manner, power structures based on race always seem to be turning in the other direction.
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And this is an important aspect of the novel's social-historical setting more generally. It's a time of upheaval and transition, where the old order (slavery) has been upended, but it's not clear what will take its place. And for a range of reasons, Antoinette and her family are excluded from the "closed ranks" that the Creoles construct to fend off the inevitable changes. This definitely makes for an inverted and confusing set of relations, perfectly illustrated in the scene where Tia takes Antoinette's racist epithet out of her mouth and turns it against her, in a much more personal and specific way.
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