Splendors and Glooms Society and Class Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

Agnes's mouth twisted. At Clara's age, Agnes had been a scullery maid. She saw no romance in earning a living. "You know that's wrong, miss. Your mother wouldn't like it a bit. And what would your little friends think, having to take tea with common children like those Greaseenies?" (1.50)

Clara thinks that it must be so exciting and romantic for children to work for their living—like Lizzie Rose and Parsefall do—but that's because she's never had to work a day in her life. If she did, she'd probably understand how hard and exhausting it is.

Quote #5

Whoever lived here had money enough for fires in every room, and an army of housemaids to stoke them. Lizzie Rose tried to imagine what it would be like to live year-round in a house like this one, with ample coal in winter and a garden in the spring. (2.18)

When Lizzie Rose first shows up at the Wintermute home, she can't even imagine what it would be like to live in such a grand house. The idea of being warm all of the time and having enough to eat is incredible to her.

Quote #6

Then Miss Cameron turned on Clara. "What on earth possessed you? How could you laugh in such an unladylike manner?"

"I don't know," said Clara.

Miss Cameron's frown deepened. "Skeletons and cemeteries—! And in a house of mourning! Nothing could be in worse taste!" (4.22-24)

Poor Clara gets sent to bed without dinner on her birthday because she doesn't behave in a ladylike fashion during the puppet show. She doesn't ever get a break from acting like a young lady—she always has to be on her best behavior, no matter what.