[ SECRET POST #6030 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #6030 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.



__________________________________________________



02.



__________________________________________________



03.



__________________________________________________



04.



__________________________________________________



05.



__________________________________________________



06.


























Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 25 secrets from Secret Submission Post #862.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

It's been long enough since I read this that I only have a hazy notion of what you're talking about. I had no idea how to place Rat and Mole in relation to the class system in Britain when I encountered this book, and I guess Badger and Toad would be like less-rich and more-rich nobles, respectively? But feel free to correct that if I'm missing something. It seems like an interesting premise, at least. Although I'm sorry it's diminishing your enjoyment of the story!

[(Anonymous)]

Badger is old gentry. Toad is feckless aristocracy. Mole and Ratty are part of British Middle Class. Wealthy enough not to have to work for a living, but not gentry like Badger. It is complicated, but they are all varying levels of the English elite. From lowest like Mole, then Ratty who is a bit better off, Badger who is the Squire, topping out with Toad of Toad Hall. And those nasty weasels being working class and thus prone to crime and revolutionary disorder.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh. That does shed some light on the weasels. Also, I didn't know there was any subset of the British middle class that could afford to not work. That's stuff I couldn't have figured out. Thanks, anon!

[(Anonymous)]

The British Middle Class is what in America is called the upper class. The American Middle Class is largely the UK working Class. The British Upper Class are those who have titles and then above them there are the Royals. It is complicated, but yeah, a large part of the UK Middle Class can either afford not to work and live on investments, or has only minimal work to do.

[(Anonymous)]

It was even more pronounced in the past, when this was written. The divide between the classes. And even the working class has the respectable workers, who know their place like Otter and the Rabbits, and the disrespectful underclass like the weasels.

[(Anonymous)]

Now that's super interesting too, and I would not have thought to ask directly. But yeah, it ... seemed pretty weird to me that a hefty chunk of what I thought ought to be called "working class" in the US called itself something else, supposedly on account of not doing manual labor.

In Britain, if a lawyer weren't comfortably situated enough to turn down all his cases and live off investments, if he wanted to, he'd be considered working class as opposed to middle class? Or is that exaggerating the point?

Also, how do people tell the difference? Based on the amount of leisure time available to different classes? Because there aren't actual sumptuary laws anymore, AFAIK, and I'm guessing (perhaps wrongly) that there's financial overlap between the best-paid of the working class and the least-well-off of the middle class ... unless social disapproval is enough to keep that sort of upward mobility posturing off limits?

Also, I'm guessing there's at least two additional class distinctions within the working class? Because the accountants in Britain probably think they're better than the plumbers and bus drivers, and everyone seems to abhor Chavs and consider them separate from the rest of the working class.

[(Anonymous)]

A lawyer is Middle Class, even if they are not very rich, it isn't all about money. It is complicated how you know the difference between a poorer Lower Middle Class person and more well off Upper Working Class. You just know.

I know a guy who is a mechanic, runs three garages repairing works vans, is very well off financially speaking, probably much better off than a lot of legal aid lawyers, but the latter are Middle Class and he is still Working Class. It is screwed up, I know.

[(Anonymous)]

Isn't part of it whether a person works with their hands? I've heard that a surgeon can't be considered a gentleman because of that.

[(Anonymous)]

DA, btw*

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

Huh. Alright. Well, again, thanks for taking the time to explain.

[(Anonymous)]

That's a very thorough explanation, thanks. It's not like America lacks a class system, but... the British are in a whole different league here and I personally struggle to figure it out sometimes.