How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Ethnic divisions were no longer important; the world was split into language-groups. Was it, she thought in an instant almost of prophetic power, to be left to her and the few indisputable Anglo-Saxons like her to restore sanity and dignity to the mongrel world? Her race, she seemed to remember, had done it before. (1.3.5)
Are Beatrice-Joanna's white supremacism and her homophobia linked at all? Are they both part of a general sense of "conservatism" or "old-fashioned values," or are their motivations different?
Quote #5
'One achievement of the Anglo-Saxon race,' said Tristram, 'was parliamentary government, which eventually meant government by party. Later, when it was found that the work of government could be carried on more expeditiously without debate and without the opposition that party government entailed, the nature of the cycle began to be recognized.' (1.4.1)
Is there any irony at work in this passage? Is Tristram suggesting that there's a connection between Anglo-Saxon parliamentary governments and the dictatorships he alludes to when he talks about government work being carried on "without debate" and "without opposition"? If so, could this passage be a challenge or a counterpoint to Beatrice-Joanna's feeling that it's up to Anglo-Saxons "to restore sanity and dignity to the mongrel world"?
Quote #6
Tristram left (just a tummy upset) and joined the group waiting at the lift. Old Mr Earthrowl, Phipps, Arthur Spragg, Miss Runting—race-blocks like nutrition blocks: Europe, Africa, Asia mashed together, salted by Polynesia—off to their jobs in the ministries and the national factories [. . .] (2.1.6)
According to Tristram (and/or the novel's narrative voice), if racial, ethnic, and national hybridity is like a "nutrition block," does that mean that it's sustaining England, or is it another sign of dystopian change?