How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The lower levels wreathed in engine smoke, the villas of the rich gleaming white on the higher decks. (1.3)
The difference between the upper class and lower class is striking in this view of London-on-wheels. The rich live in fabled white buildings; the poor live in literal filth.
Quote #2
Tom could not get at him, because Melliphant's family had paid to make him a First Class Apprentice, while Tom, who had no family, was a mere Third. (1.23)
Looks like even in the future people are divided by class lines, and as Tom's background tells us, people have no control over which class they're born into.
Quote #3
"That's what comes of living in a slum on the lower tiers. [...] When the Big Tilt happened they both got squashed flat as a couple of raspberry pancakes: splat!" (1.37)
Melliphant shows us classism at its worst. Not only is the lower class in greater risk merely because of where it's forced to live, but people in higher classes, like Melliphant, don't even view the losses of lower-class lives as a tragedy. It's funny to people like Melliphant.