How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
While his mother was alive, Yura did not know that his father had abandoned them long ago, had gone around various towns in Siberia and abroad, carousing and debauching, and that he had long ago squandered and thrown to the winds the millions of their fortune. (1.3.1)
Yuri Zhivago is from a very rich background, but he'd never know it based on the way his poor mother has raised him. His dad, you see, is the worst kind of rich dude—the irresponsible kind. And in all honesty, the guy doesn't really deserve to be in the upper class if he's just going to run around doing what he wants and blowing all his money. Then again, being in the upper class has pretty much nothing to do with merit in Russia during this time—it was pretty much hereditary.
Quote #2
[The rich woman] cast her unblinking, dreamy gaze over the crowding workers with such an air, as though in case of need this gaze could pass unhindered through them, as through fog or drizzle. (2.6.10)
Even though he's critical of the Bolshevik Revolution, Pasternak is quick to point out that there's still a ton of stuff that's horrible about the division between rich and poor in old Russia. Rich people barely think of workers as human—if they think of them at all.
Quote #3
This world of baseness and falsity, where a well-fed little lady dares to look like that at witless working people, and the drunken victim of this order finds pleasure in jeering at one of his own kind, this world was now more hateful to him than ever. (2.6.30)
When he's faced with the injustice of a world where lazy rich people keep getting richer and richer by sponging off workers, Comrade Tiverzin can't help but feel hateful and violent. He can only let the situation at his factory get so bad before he steps up and does something about it—like organizing a strike.