The De Lacey family was in the upper middle class of France, with Felix serving as a civil servant and Agatha who was “ranked with ladies of the highest distinction.” Safie’s father, a Turkish merchant who had been a businessman in Paris for many years, falls into disrepute for reasons Shelley does not make clear to the reader. It is supposed that all Safie’s father did was to suffer from a xenophobic — fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners — attack by local authorities. However, all of his property is taken away, and he is thrown into prison to later stand trial. Shelley’s point here is that the monster is telling this story about the injustice that the De Lacey family has to endure. This gives him the idea that he’s not the only one who has suffered from an injustice.
