Felicity peered at the balding, red-faced man, the situation suddenly becoming abundantly clear. She hadn’t seen this particular brand of superior sneer since she was a child growing up in the waning days of colonial Singapore, and she thought this kind of overt racism had ceased to exist.”
-- Narrator (Felicity’s perspective) (Prologue)

Importance: Felicity’s reaction to being treated with unabashed racism by the Calthorpe Hotel manager sets her, Eleanor, and Alexandra up to look like the protagonists of the novel, even though, as the novel unfolds, they are incredibly racist themselves and go on to be either minor characters (Felicity and Alexandra) or the antagonist (Eleanor). Felicity and her extended family are racist behind closed doors and act on that racism indirectly, whereas the Calthorpe manager is overt about his racism. In addition, this quote highlights the tensions between old, colonial Singapore that many of the older characters (like Su Yi) are mentally...