Key passages

Passage: “She often went on about how she hated class distinction, but she never took me in. It’s the way people speak that gives them away, not what they say. You only had to see her dainty ways to see how she was brought up. She wasn’t la-di-da, like many, but it was there all the same. You could see it when she got sarcastic and impatient with me because I couldn’t explain myself or I did things wrong. Stop thinking about class, she’d say. Like a rich man telling a poor man to stop thinking about money. I don’t hold it against her, she probably said and did some of the shocking things she did to show me she wasn’t really refined, but she was. When she was angry she could get right up on her high horse and come it over me with the best of them. There was always class between us.”

-Frederick Clegg, page 17

 Analysis: This passage describes the class differences between Frederick and Miranda according to Frederick. He used to think that she was a high class girl, the ‘la-di-da’ kind of girl. However, she turned out to be ‘sarcastic and impatient’, Miranda tried to explain Frederick that class is not important, however Frederick could see a difference in terms of behaviour between the two of them which he interpreted as class difference. This is a key quote, because class difference is a big theme in the book.

Passage: "It's despair at the lack of feeling, of love, of reason in the world. It's despair that anyone can even contemplate the idea of dropping a bomb or ordering that it should be dropped. It's despair that so few of us care. It's despair that there's so much brutality and callousness in the world. It's despair that perfectly normal young men can be made vicious and evil because they've won a lot of money. And then do what you've done to me."

- Miranda, page 62

Analysis: This passage is part of the dialogue between Miranda and Caliban (Frederick) about the H-bomb. The statement above is used by Miranda to explain her feelings about hurting others because of despair. In the second part of the quote; “It’s despair that perfectly normal young men can be made vicious and evil because they’ve won a lot of money. And then do what you’ve done to me.”, Miranda is making clear that losing hope can totally change the behaviour and character of a human being, she is also referring to Frederick as if he is the one who is in despair. This is a key quote, because despair would be the reason for Frederick to kidnap Miranda.