Figgs & Phantoms contains material which may be of interest and concern to those wishing to look at treatments of racism or handicaps in literature. An incident involving Miss Quigley deals with the issue of race, while the treatment of Uncle Flo's stature addresses the subject of handicaps.

The Miss Quigley incident is important both to the plot and to the theme. Mona, searching for Conrad first editions at the library, corrects Miss Quigley's assumption that Children of the Sea is the same as Mirror of the Sea (1906), by pointing out that its original title is Nigger of the Narcissus (1897). She gets only part of the title out, notices that Miss Quigley is frozen in shock, and breaks off and runs out of the library. Miss Quigley does not realize that Mona is giving the title of a novel, and Mona had not realized until she saw...