Through her epistolary correspondence and her novel "Ifigenia" (1924), Teresa de la Parra (1889-1936) questions racial stratification systems reminiscent of colonial times and still present in twentieth-century Venezuela. Parra establishes the malleability of racial categories through a moderate racial discourse that intends to re-classify whiteness as the sole marker of economic wealth. Via its young and naïve protagonist, "Ifigenia" depicts how white elites reluctantly adapted to modernity's significant socioeconomic changes, leaving previous racial stratification systems--and their whitening projects--obsolete. Parra's moderate approach to race has been consistently overlooked by numerous scholars who often focus on "Ifigenia's" feminine discourse. However, Parra's novel thrives in the nuanced juxtaposition between racial purity and "mestizaje" that mirrors the tension between Paris and Caracas as opposing geographical and racial spaces. Parra's nuanced discourse reveals a moderate racial theory that underscores the importance of controlled racial mixing and intends to negotiate between a European ideal of racial purity and a Venezuelan "mestizo" reality at the turn of the twentieth century. Ultimately, her protagonist willingly sacrifices herself for the continuation of a national narrative where modernity has enforced an acceptance of "mestizaje."