An American Dream Society and Class Quotes

From the get-go, Rojack sees Deborah as a way to join the upper class. Sure, he's already a war hero and congressman, but you best believe he has higher highs in him than that.

Well that's a nasty vision, if you ask us—Rojack should probably get his eyes checked. The idea of so much wealth is both intriguing and horrifying to Rojack, as if he already knows how many sacrifices he'll need to make to reach that rung of the social ladder.

In order to join high society, Rojack must rebuild his identity from the ground up—he's like a method actor who stays in character whether the cameras are on or off. The loss of his identity is the first of many sacrifices he'll need to make on the road to the top.

If there were a recipe to becoming a successful politician, the first ingredient would be money. For the first time in his life, Rojack is rubbing elbows with the words' wealthiest and most powerful people—and boy, does he like it. He doesn't just want to hang with rich people, though; he wants to become one of them. Deborah will help him with that.

For the most part, Rojack only loves Deborah because she helps him reach his goals. Without her, he's just some guy doing some stuff—boring—but with her, he becomes someone worth noticing and acknowledging, a V.I.P. if you will. That must really bum him out sometimes.

Rojack is ashamed that he's needed Deborah to get where he is. Listen: Rojack is a macho dude, so of course it drives him crazy that he owes all of his success to a woman. Despite whatever he may say about full moons or God or the Devil or whatever, these feelings of emasculation are the main motivation behind Deborah's murder.

Here, the high-class life is tied to the idea of consumerism. Deborah represents a generation of Americans born into such immense wealth that they don't have to worry about anything but enjoying life (think: Keeping Up With The Kardashians). That might feel great for a while, but too much of a good thing gets bad—and boring—pretty quickly.

Rojack is so obsessed with class that he can't even have sex without thinking about it. This guy definitely needs to talk to a psychologist. There's something deeper going on here, however—Rojack knows that having a child with Deborah will solidify his standing in the upper class. Getting her pregnant would be a wise business move.

Kelly wasn't always a high society guy, and he comes from even humbler beginnings than Rojack. This experience teaches him that perception is more important than reality, especially when it comes to class. In fact, he was only able to get where he is by creating the illusion that he was born rich. When you think about it, Rojack and Kelly are playing the same role, but Kelly is better at it.

That's not the only way Rojack and Kelly are similar, either—they also both joined the upper class by way of women. But it's not like Bess is a classy lady or anything; her house is tackier than Donald Trump's hotels. She's so rich that she doesn't need to bother with good taste.

This explains a lot a lot about Kelly's and Rojack's actions. It's like playing a videogame with cheat codes—when everything is easy, you end up doing a lot of crazy stuff you'd never do otherwise.