There might be more to it, think about racism, colonialism,

slavery, white supremacy, discrimination, immigration.... and the tone of the story,  do you think Pierre was telling a true story to Charles? do you think Charles was trasposing the story in fidelity to his listeners? No one in the story ever cared about the tragic death of poor Faniry, no one ever thought of bringing the perpetrator to justice. I am feeling the author was trying to hint more between the lines.  I may have thought too much of it, however.