Race

The author demonstrates through the action in the novel how race is not only used to categorize people, but also how different racial experiences are people.

Mary-Emma is a mixed-race child. She does not understand the social constructs that come with racial identifications. Whereas people see differences, e.g. the women who give Tassie and Mary-Emma a look when they see her on the street, Mary-Emma searches for similarities. She notices that she has brown eyes, just as Tassie does. She searches for commonalities as a way to connect. Tassie witnesses the reality of what Mary-Emma will experience through her life because she “saw again and again what it was simply to walk into a store for a doughnut and have a wordless racial experience” (168).

Sarah has a heightened awareness about the role the race of a child plays in adoption. She comments about children from...