mistreated and shunned by Jim and the remainder of his family, while Arvay feels it her duty to take his side. Furthermore, she feels insecure when Angeline, her second child, takes a preference to Jim. This also adds tension to the marriage as Arvay struggles with feelings of inadequacy. These feelings are not alleviated until after Arvay's mother dies. Alone without anyone, Arvay burns the house that her mother left her in a symbolic gesture of starting anew. Arvay destroys the one thing that anchors her down to Sawley; it is a grandiose statement that depicts her growth from a girl to a woman. Indeed, Arvay's stay at Sawley challenged her in ways that she had not been previously. For the first time, Arvay was able to use her prestige to stand up to Carl when he accosted her for money. With nothing left for her in Sawley, Arvay takes this as the sign she needs to head back to find Jim. Furthermore, by the end of the novel the people of Sawley have become more respectful towards her, a start contrast to the rumors and teasing she had endured as a young woman. In a moment of epiphany, Arvay realizes that it is Jim who had "put her Larraine ahead of the other girls" (298). It is arguable the relationship she had formed with Jim, and her children, was what had made her out to be as successful as she was. Without Jim, she would have been nothing, a slow realization that dawns upon her during her trip to Sawley after witnessing the state of Carl and her family. The intersectionality of race and class The fact that Seraph on the Suwanee focuses on White characters differentiates it from the remainder of Hurston's novels. Indeed, Arvay's life is informed by the fact that she is a White, formerly impoverished woman. Having grown up in a small White town, she speaks of "heathens" of other nations that must be introduced to Christ; likewise, her opinion of African American characters is also clouded with racist prejudice (73). She even suspects the Corragios due to the fact that they are part Portuguese. I Arvay is insecure about her femininity, relationship with Jim, and her Whiteness, which becomes plainly obvious as she denounces the Corragios while also commenting on the attractiveness of their daughter. She also suggests that t hey are influencing Jim