This novel showcases the tendency for class status to be the sole factor that defines one’s existence, rather than a part of who one is. For Amabelle, being a servant was not something she did to make money, but a lifestyle she was committed to. Amabelle resents her invisibility and her duty to appear when needed and disappear when directed. She realizes that as a service worker, she will always be in the background of her own life. Readers see that she is expected to be at her employers’ beck and call, night and day, ready to make a drink or birth a baby if necessary. When she is offered the position as midwife, she realizes that this would mean a complete change in the amount of power she has over her life and makes the declaration that “it was time to go on to another life, a life that would be fully” hers (80). Even though it’s ostensibly only a career change, every aspect of her life would be different because it would remove her from the subservient class.

Class defines ability. Readers can see the stark contrast between those who are high class and those who are low class when the subject of leaving the Dominican Republic comes up.