The Bald Soprano Society and Class Quotes

The Smiths "live in the suburbs of London," which may indicate that they are a solidly middle class couple. The line seems to indicate that their place in society is what has allowed them to eat so well this evening. At times the play seems to be taking aim at the middle class. The fact that Mrs. Smith goes on and on about nothing for so long could be interpreted as saying that most middle-class people fill their days with meaningless chatter.

Being "sober and temperate" was (and still is) a solid middle class value. Drunks and substance abusers are definitely looked down upon. Of course, this line also exposes a bit of hypocrisy. If alcohol is so bad, then why do the Smiths have any? Is it possible that the Smiths' hypocrisy represents the wider hypocrisy of the middle class as a whole?

The Smiths definitely don't give Mary, the maid, very much respect. Throughout the play they kind of treat her like crap. Poor Mary's plight could represent the plight of many working-class people stuck in the employ of snotty middle-class types like the Smiths.

While it's not true that the Church put out its own fires back in the 1950s England, it is true that members of the clergy stood apart from the rest of society. Perhaps, this line from the Fire Chief is meant to satirize the Church's self-imposed separation. The idea that the Church might take this separation so far as to have their own fire department, seems to satirize in some ways the Church's aloof place in society.

A person who has been "naturalized" was once a foreigner, but has since become an official citizen of whatever country they've immigrated to. We highly doubt that naturalized citizens weren't serviced by the fire department in 1950s England. It's also pretty unlikely that they weren't allowed to put the fire out if their house caught aflame. However, just like with the statement about the Church in the previous quote, this exaggeration highlights the separateness that people originally from foreign countries might feel.

At the end of this long story from the Fire Chief, we learn that all these people sometime catch colds in the winter. That's pretty much the point of the whole story. Or is it? We also discuss this quote in "Philosophical Viewpoints: The Absurd," but here we'd like to point out that you could see this long list of associations as showing how absurd divisions in society are. The Fire Chief mentions people in all walks of life during his story. In the end, we learn that ultimately they all get colds. Are we really that different?

Mr. Martin and everybody else is totally offended by the idea that a maid might want to join in on their storytelling. This moment highlights the stark societal divides that often exist between middle class and working class people. The fact that all Mary wants to do is tell a story makes these divides seem even more absurd.

At first, the Fire Chief is just as snobby as the Smiths and Martins about the maid telling a story. Then he discovers that the maid is his long lost love, Mary. It's interesting how love can often transcend class divides.

The Smiths' stodgy middle-class ideals are totally challenged by Mary and Fire Chief's display of affection – or any displays of affection for that matter. The fact that Mary and the Fire Chief's love crosses class boundaries makes it all the more offensive to the Smiths.

Here, Mrs. Martin expresses a pretty classist attitude. She seems to be saying that anyone who is a maid isn't capable of being anything else. Mrs. Martin thinks that Mary is low class and will stay that way forever.