Ourika says that she doesn't remember much from the time before her rescue to France. She doesn't mention seeing any racism apart from what was directed at her. She alludes to gazes of disdain, and there is the one instance that suggests that she has no future. Still, her exposure to racism is almost nonexistant. In fact, especially for the time period, it's she is unusually sheltered.
But it tears her world apart regardless. She sees herself as ugly, and loses all hope. This first struck me as a remarkable internalization of... what? Her treatment? There's hardly anything external motivating this crisis, as far as I can understand.
What it seems to come down to is isolation. She speaks about Charles's unilateral relationship with her, which diminishes her own secret by not even guessing that it was present. Her moments of connection occur when she feels that someone relies on her. But she can't rely on anyone. She calls the family she lives with her "protectors." This implies a separation between her and them, and by extension her and the real world because they protect her from it.
Her race takes on a role beyond her. She belongs where she is in every way except that she is black. Race creates her isolation, which creates her unhappiness.
This race problem is strange, because it seems to come from her alone.
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