Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
In our heads, the Mill Reef Club is full of people like Mr. Burns, Richie Rich, and (for all of you 90s kids) Scrooge McDuck. In other words, it's a place for people with a lot of money but not much empathy.
The Mill Reef Club shows that Antigua's social structure still favors white people over black people. The narrator says it simply: they "came […] took things that were not [theirs], and […] did not even, for appearance's sake, ask first" (2.6). Although the Mill Reef Club members weren't the first people to do this, they're the only ones that are still perpetuating that old mentality.
It's as clear as day. When the club first opened, "the only Antiguans (black people) allowed to go there were servants" (2.3). And now, a prominent socialite from the club regularly refers to adult Antiguan women as "girls" (3.2). Ugh. The people from the Mill Reef Club are still living in the past—and we mean that in the worst kind of way. To dig into this a bit deeper, be sure to read up on the library elsewhere in this section.