In the modern age of interracial marriages and liaisons between those of disparate races, the attitude, the typical one, of white men toward "native" women, as seen in "Red," may appear outdated. It may be instructive to readers today to note that, while such relationships were not uncommon, especially in the Pacific Islands, the view of most white men was that any such association was "occasional" and any "marriage" less than binding. That Neilson and Red take opposite sides in their feelings about relations with natives only underlines the social significance of interracial connections, from love affairs to marriages.

The European colonialism that had prevailed in the Islands for many years, in which natives, especially women, were treated as second-class persons, tended to create attitudes like Red's. When Neilson asks him if he thinks that the "lover" will ever return, Red says that he will never...