It is notable that the author uses Christian values to denounce slavery. This subverts the very basis on which slavery was justified. And through storytelling and narrative, the cruelty of the slave owners is directly contrasted with Christian values, both through the narrator’s words and through what can be inferred from the text by the reader. This strengthens the core message of the story. The author challenges the readers to reconsider what it means to be Christian, and how contradictory the current society is with those ideas.

This passage shows the dehumanizing nature of slavery. Enslaved people are being sold off after being gambled away. This 'uncertainty of a slave's position' is something that usually seems to be overlooked when discussing the cruelty of slavery. The fact that enslaved people are seen as commodities, and therefore sold without their knowledge or consent, deprives them of home, both physically and mentally. In this sense, enslaved people have no security in the sense of home, which is the basis for personal identity. Slavery is directly undermining the enslaved person's identity, as well as their freedom.

Clotel is described as 'beautiful' in an extremely degrading manner. Her beauty is considered comparable to, or even superior to, that of white women. White beauty standards are presented as the only measure of beauty and are therefore applied to Clotel. She is described as being 'as white as' the people who want to buy her and is referred to as an 'albino'. This implies that a person of color can only be considered beautiful when they have features that are similar to white features. The suggestion that beauty is not inherent in a person of color but is only possible when their heritage is mixed with white slave owners reveals the cruel racial hierarchy of white supremacy that permeates everyday life of this time, even shaping beauty standards. It is also worth noting that people like Clotel are called 'mulatto', which derives from the word for 'mule'. This offensive origin of the word also shows the degradation of colored people.