“Grace thinks of Fiona as that woman. She is from overseas where they have funny ways, like using first names when they don’t even know a person, although of course in Grace’s case she is only the char and so that is her name…”

I found this quote interesting because it could have a broader application of the relationship and the interactions of the white people and colored people in South Africa at the time. The interaction between Grace and Fiona in this section seems to suggest that the colored people are viewed as inferior and backward, implied in Fiona’s question of how long Grace has to travel to fetch water, and highly amusing, implied in Fiona’s questions of Grace’s secret in keeping herself so youthful and suggestion of a visit for tea both of which do not seem to be serious or genuine. This, at least, is Grace’s interpretation of their interaction and it’s easy for the reader to also view the interaction in this way. However, later in the passage where Fiona declines to write about South Africa because she has not lived there and sends the 100-rand note to Grace adds nuance to Fiona’s character suggesting that she might not be explicitly biased as it appeared but that are interactions were the influence of implicit bias.