Many of the incidents and issues that take place in this book stem from the confines created by gender roles and the patriarchy. While slavery in America is certainly rooted in racism, this novel also draws attention to the ways that sexism played a role as well. Great Gram and Grandmama’s experiences being raped by Corregidora and prostituted out to his friends and wife show the ways in which the demands on women slaves could be quite different from that of their male counterparts. On her guard after her own mother’s experiences, Ursa’s mother is no stranger to sexism, either. Her trust is broken when an otherwise friendly waiter convinces her to come upstairs with him and then takes advantage of her. She is impregnated and despite the fact that she hates him, she is forced to marry him for no other reason than traditional gender roles dictate that a mother should be married. 

Ursa, as the novel’s protagonist, is the greatest example of sexism’s shaping forces. Neighbors, classmates, audience members, nightclub owners–the list of Ursa’s predators is long. Like her mother, who becomes reclusive in order to fend off unwanted advances, Ursa numbs herself to the world around her in order to experience it.