Consider Placidia's relationships with other women in the novel. Who does she have conflict with? Who does she bond with? Why?

Consider Placidia's relationships with other women in the novel. Who does she have conflict with? Who does she bond with? Why?

She and her sister didn't see eye-to-eye. For one thing, it could have been the difference in their appearances being that Placidia was beautiful where her sister was not.

She seems open to, eager for, friendships with women of spirit and character. Her stepsister is clearly not such a person, even before Dia realizes that Agnes is jealous of her. Her friendship with Mildred shows she can have lasting friendship with another woman, a friendship strong enough that even when Dia is accused of infanticide, her friend stands by her. She is able to be close to her Aunt Florie, and to get along with other women, such as Katherine Cooper, or her neighbors. She likewise is friendly to slave women who show themselves to be kind, like Cleo and Nerissa, but not to those who are petty and mean, like Suki -- she doesn't seem to use color as a criterion of a person's character, and is not a snob either. These qualities appear to have offended her stepsister's circle of "Southern belles," eager to spread gossip about her.

Dia got along fine with the other women characters, with the exception of her step-mother and step-sister. I didn't like them!

I think she was wise in knowing who she could trust and who she couldn't. Race wasn't the issue—the women she didn't trust were hateful and not just to her.