How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Broken heads were as common as hunger in that place. Yet little Tom was not unhappy. He had a hard time of it, but did not know it. It was the sort of time that all the Offal Court boys had, therefore he supposed it was the correct and comfortable thing. (2.4)
This is obviously before celebrity reality TV shows, because otherwise Tom would know that he's missing out on sprawling McMansions and million-dollar Sweet 16s. Do you think more people in Tom's class would want things to be different if they knew that things could be different?
Quote #2
He often read the priest's old books and got him to explain and enlarge upon them. His dreamings and readings worked certain changes in him, by and by. His dream-people were so fine that he grew to lament his shabby clothing and his dirt, and to wish to be clean and better clad. (2.6)
It's only after Tom gets a glimpse of what it's like to be in another, seemingly better position that he starts to hate his life. It's hard to be envious if everyone you know is in the same situation as you are. Is this one of the reason the royal court wants to keep everybody from seeing how they live at the palace?
Quote #3
Look you: do thy sisters forbid their servants to smile, lest the sin destroy their souls?"
"They? Oh, dost think, sir, that they have servants?" (3.36)
Turns out this ignorance about other classes works both ways; because the rich people are surrounded only by rich people, they don't understand what it's like to be poor: they assume the poor people are just like them... just maybe not quite as good. Do you think that you can see examples of this today?
Quote #4
The Taster to his highness the Prince of Wales was there also, prepared to taste any suspicious dish upon requirement, and run the risk of being poisoned. He was only an ornamental appendage at this time, and was seldom called to exercise his function; but there had been times, not many generations past, when the office of taster had its perils, and was not a grandeur to be desired. Why they did not use a dog or a plumber seems strange; but all the ways of royalty are strange. (7.1)
Why do you think the narrator says that all the ways of the royalty are strange? What does having a royal taster say about how the court values the humanity of lower class people? Maybe the narrator means that the entire idea of royalty is pretty strange; after all, if the basic idea underlying royalty is strange, then it's no surprise that all the customs surrounding royalty would be strange, too.
Quote #5
Tom examined the turnips and the lettuce with interest, and asked what they were, and if they were to be eaten; for it was only recently that men had begun to raise these things in England in place of importing them as luxuries from Holland. (7.6)
Tom apparently has never been to Whole Foods. But seriously: the rich and the poor are even divided in terms of what they eat. We're pretty sure that poor English people would enjoy turnips and lettuce as much as rich English people; the only difference is that the rich people can afford these things, whereas the poor people can't.
Quote #6
But the next moment he was himself disturbed by it, and showed discomposure; for this was the only service he had been permitted to do with his own hands during the meal, and he did not doubt that he had done a most improper and un-princely thing. (7.6)
Right before this, Tom shoved a bunch of nuts into his pockets. Not exactly princely behavior, right? Tom is already realizing that what it means to be a high-class person is that you never do anything for yourself.
Quote #7
When the nuts were all gone, he stumbled upon some inviting books in a closet, among them one about the etiquette of the English court. This was a prize. He lay down upon a sumptuous divan, and proceeded to instruct himself with honest zeal. (7.13)
Tom's kind of like an anthropologist studying a new foreign culture—except this culture is right in his backyard; it's just been closed off to him his whole life. How strange is it that people as similar, deep down, as Tom and Edward could have such different lots in life, even though they live almost next to each other?
Quote #8
It was a meal which was distinguished by this curious feature, that rank was waived on both sides; yet neither recipient of the favor was aware that it had been extended. The goodwife had intended to feed this young tramp with broken victuals in a corner, like any other tramp, or like a dog; but she was so remorseful for the scolding she had given him, that she did what she could to atone for it by allowing him to sit at the family table and eat with his betters, on ostensible terms of equality with them; and the king, on his side, was so remorseful for having broken his trust, after the family had been so kind to him, that he forced himself to atone for it by humbling himself to the family level, instead of requiring the woman and her children to stand and wait upon him while he occupied their table in the solitary state due his birth and dignity. It does us all good to unbend sometimes. (19.28)
Why do both the king and the old woman think they have done a good deed? Is either of them correct? How is a "good deed" defined here? Does the definition vary by class?
Quote #9
"Peace! What are thy paltry domains, thy trivial interests, contrasted with matters which concern the weal of a nation and the integrity of a throne!" Then he added, in a gentle voice, as if he were sorry for his severity, "Obey and have no fear; I will right thee, I will make thee whole —yes, more than whole. I shall remember, and requite." (26.11)
It's moments like this that make us not like Prince Edward so much: he can really be a pain sometimes. But is he right? Are his problems bigger than Miles's simply because of his social class? We mean, yeah, he is the king and all, but still...
Quote #10
"Oh, body o' me! This my pauper! This my lunatic! This is he whom / would show what grandeur was, in my house of seventy rooms and seven and twenty servants! This is he who had never known aught but rags for raiment, kicks for comfort, and offal for diet! This is he whom / adopted and would make respectable! Would God I had a bag to hide my head in!" (33.44)
In this scene, Miles realizes that Edward actually was a real prince the whole time. His mind is blown. He's totally embarrassed now, but how do you think he would have treated Edward if he had known the truth about him? Maybe Miles was confused the whole time because he would have expected a real prince or a king to behave terribly, whereas Edward has been on pretty good behavior for much of the novel.