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This section outlines numerous cataclysmic changes for the various members of the Stockton family, and as always, their reactions to their real-world issues are strongly influenced by the unique pressures and cultural expectations that their upper-class world imposes upon them. In a prime example of Achieving Meaning Through Agency, Georgiana tries going outside her own social circles to find a deeper connection. Yet although she falls deeply in love and experiences an exciting but turbulent time, she is strictly limited by the inexperience to which her sheltered upbringing has condemned her, and she does not foresee or forestall the social dangers that come with dating a married man. Her inexperience is highlighted in her inability to effectively flirt or make her feelings known to him, and thus she resigns herself to a passive role in their developing relationship, letting his desires and impulses govern the situation. Once he makes the first move, Georgiana dives into their relationship with relish, and her eagerness reflects a dual desire for both physical pleasure and emotional intimacy. The secretive nature of their relationship is at first presented as necessary because they work together, but all of these secrets foreshadow the bigger secret Brady keeps from Georgiana—his marriage. Now, Georgiana finds herself in a deeply compromised position. Due to her lack of experience, Georgiana doesn’t casually date and has already become emotionally tied to Brady, but his lack of honesty implies that her respect for him is seriously misplaced, as he clearly does not hold her in the same regard. This issue is compounded by yet another red flag when he admits that he works in the non-profit sector not for altruistic reasons, but because the job offers him the excitement of a nomadic lifestyle. While this admission does not necessarily make Brady an outright antagonist, it’s notable that his primary motivation in both his occupation and in his love life is to satiate his more selfish goals and ambitions. Georgiana’s willingness to overlook these serious complications for the sake of the mere idea of love reflects her vulnerability as someone who has been sheltered by her family for so long that she can be quite naive when it comes to seeing the truth about other people. Although Brady represents Georgiana’s first attempt to broaden her social horizons, her inexperience yields a conflicting situation fraught with a tangled mess of risks and rewards.

Two important topics that Jackson explores in these chapters are implicit bias and systemic racism. Darley’s husband Malcolm is Korean American, and she notes with distaste that both her children and Malcolm himself are treated differently by others in their predominately white surroundings. Before marrying Malcolm, Darley did not have to notice or worry about the detrimental effects of racism and implicit bias. Her privilege as a white woman in a predominately white space made her unaware of such prevalent realities, but now that her family is more diverse, Darley is hyperaware of the racism and implicit bias that infects her community. This issue directly relates to the sociological reality of the history of inherited wealth and speaks to the issue of Navigating Class Relations. Due to centuries of institutionalized racism, minority groups in America do not have the same stores of wealth that rich white people have been able to save up over time in the form of investments, assets, and capital. Inherited wealth is largely controlled by a few key white families, making rich white people even wealthier and creating an even larger economic gap between white people and minority groups. As Curtis points out to Georgiana, Stockton wealth is based in real estate and gentrification, which essentially means that the Stockton family became wealthy by using their money to take over minority neighborhoods, push out the residents, and rebuild those neighborhoods for the benefit of wealthy people. Thus, the family’s wealth-building activities over generations effectively destroyed the minority communities that had called those neighborhoods home for decades.

In yet another example of the issues of Navigating Class Relations, Malcolm is in a tricky situation with his firing. He is too smart and well-qualified for most jobs, but the high-power jobs he is fit for can only be accessed through reputation and strategic connections. Malcolm could hypothetically use the Stocktons as a connection, but because he and Darley do not want the family to know about his current financial crisis, they refrain from utilizing this resource. Additionally, Malcolm is a hard worker who is accustomed to taking charge of his own career and advancing through merit and hard work. For this reason, asking his in-laws for help would damage his integrity and his pride. Compounding Malcolm’s troubles is the unavoidable fact that he is a Korean man who grew up outside of wealthy, white Manhattan life, and therefore, despite his hard work, his genius, and his kindness, Malcolm may not be able to regain his footing based solely on his merits. This aspect of social and racial inequality reveals the harsh reality that high-powered jobs are less about qualifications and more about pedigree, a social convention that perpetuates the cycle of privilege that keeps people like the Stocktons in power. Notably, Jackson does not explain this reality explicitly stated during these chapters. Instead, the author merely paints a strong picture of inherited privilege and uses the threads of her story to build a satire about the closed and exclusive worlds of the extremely-wealthy.

Another character who exposes the implicit biases, prejudices, and cultural blindness of the upper class is Georgiana, who doesn’t think twice about attending a party that sports a potentially problematic theme. While the concept of “Oligarch Chic” isn’t outwardly offensive, it does assume that all Russian themes must be based on oligarchs, and oligarchs are a controversial part of the Russian socio-economic fabric. What’s more, this particular “Oligarch Chic” party is hosted at a Russian dance hall where Russian people frequently go out for dancing and partying. Therefore, Georgiana and her wealthy friends are actively mocking a problematic aspect of Russian culture in front of Russian people, with no thought for how their actions may be hurtful to others. When Curtis, as the voice of reason, boldly points this out, Georgiana becomes very defensive and describes the incident to her family and to Brady in hopes that her poor behavior will be justified. Ironically, Curtis’s own upper-class status makes him the ideal person to condemn the party; because he comes from the same world as Georgiana, it is clear that the privileged young woman has no excuse for failing to realize the social issues in supporting such a tone-deaf event. In addition to demonstrating the extreme luxury to which Georgiana is accustomed, the incident also demonstrates how deeply sheltered and myopic her world truly is. It is even more telling that nobody in her family explicitly states that the party was offensively themed, indicating that Georgiana’s spoiled behavior is often enabled by like-minded people who fail to challenge or correct her. Curtis’s perspective is featured in the Prelude to this novel, and his reappearance here as the first person to make Georgiana reflect on her privilege implies that he will become a more important character as the novel progresses.

Jackson also explores the idea of cultural codes in these chapters. Sasha is a white American, like Cord, and although she does not grow up in a particularly wealthy family, she is not poor, either. Sasha’s upbringing is stalwartly middle class, so although she was amply provided for, she was also expected to work for a living. Sasha loves her upbringing and sees the value in her working-class background. No one in her family obtained anything without hard work, unlike the Stockton children. Sasha and Cord therefore come from very different cultures. Sasha’s culture in Rhode Island has a certain set of codes that are inaccessible to those outside the culture, and only implicitly understood by those within the culture. Similarly, Cord and his family have their own culture that Sasha is not a part of. Although members from two such backgrounds may still find common ground over which to connect, Jackson uses these aspects of her story to note that socio-cultural codes are central to the various ways in which different people navigate and understand (or misunderstand) the world around them; thus, it is very easy for those of different cultures to come into conflict with adherents of other codes. Ultimately, although Sasha can learn and observe how the Stocktons’ privileged world operates, she will never fully fit in because she has not been immersed in this rarified culture since birth, as her husband has. But this inevitable disconnect would also be true of Cord if he were to live with Sasha’s family.

The structure of Jackson’s novel is important to the development of these topics. With the exception of the Prelude, Jackson rotates her chapters between three female protagonists: Sasha, Georgiana, and Darley. Sasha and Georgiana are on opposite sides of the dual spectra of wealth and self-awareness, while Darley occupies a more ambivalent position between them. Darley has already done the work of reflecting on her privilege, and her marriage to Malcolm has taught her how to adopt a more thoughtful and nuanced perspective on the world. By contrast, Sasha rejects the ultra-privileged mindset as being essentially ridiculous, while Georgiana is barely able to perceive the bubble of privilege that colors her actions and perceptions. Therefore, each woman sees her world through a unique perspective, and the blending of all three provides the heart of the social commentary that drives the novel as a whole. It also compels a sense of empathy for each character, despite the various flaws and foibles that they present in their many interactions across the boundaries of class and culture. Thus, these three distinct voices provide nuance to the story and to the development of the novel’s larger themes of Seeking Happiness Through Wealth, Achieving Meaning Through Agency, and Navigating Class Relations.