Skunk Hour Society and Class Quotes

This is a mixed up line, because heiress means she's inherited something, but Spartan means simple and spare. So she's trying to keep up the appearance of being "old money" but probably doesn't have that much.

What the old woman does seem to have a lot of is pride. Her son's profession in the church and her farmer's small political office are points of pride for the woman, elevating her above "common folk."

Again, it seems the woman considers herself the queen of this small town, and doesn't want anyone to challenge her.

Instead of being bothered by people not worthy of her, she buys their houses and then knocks them down, so she can keep her big piece of land and her ocean view.

So this is a town that draws really rich people, but maybe its year-round residents aren't quite as wealthy.

Here Lowell is making fun of this rich, picture-perfect New England sailor. He's also saying that the man left his boat behind (because he's probably so rich he doesn't need it) to lobstermen who are working-class people.

This poor shopkeeper doesn't make any money from his job and obviously doesn't love it enough to want to stay – he'd rather spend his time starting a family.