The Japanese scholar Hidetada Mukai understands the Bertrams as a "nouveau riche" family whose income depends on the plantation in Antigua. The abolition of the slave trade in 1807 had imposed a serious strain on the Caribbean plantations. Austen may have been referring to this crisis when Sir Thomas leaves for Antigua to deal with unspecified problems on his plantation. Hidetada further argued that Austen made Sir Thomas a slave master as a feminist attack on the patriarchal society of Regency England, noting that Sir Thomas, though a kindly man, treats women, including his own daughters and his niece, as disposable commodities to be traded and bartered for his own advantage, and that this would be parallelled by his treatment of slaves who are exploited to support his lifestyle.