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CTGttW Question 2: Class
Class is a major theme of the book, with the clear divisions between First Class, Third Class, and crew. Even within the crew there are divisions, with the Captain and the Crows apart from the rest.
But with the division set up, the author mostly ignores Third Class, treating them as a mass of people with a few exceptions (notably the Professor). Most of the attention in the book is in First class and the crew.
How do these class divisions influence the story?
What does this say about contemporary society? Are class divisions still important?
(The lack of second class is probably a reference to historic class divisions on British railways, that had First and Third before Third was renamed Standard.)
Comments
Yes, I wondered why there was so little attention on Third Class, and why the occupants thereof were sketched only in very generic rather than unique ways (with the excpetion, as you say, of The Professor). I also wondered why the Third Class occupants were making the journey and how they were paying for it - the motives of First Class were easier to pick up.
The curious thing, if you look at the map of the train, is that there is gardly enough room for passengers of any class. This whole effort, with walls and armoured trains and captains and crew, and past trains from which lessons were learned, is in aid of moving 8 crew, 13 third class, and 10 first class people for 23 days from China to Moscow. Doesn’t make sense. It’s quite possible the 3rd class is ignored because class doesn’t matter. Third class might represent humanity- people moving on the train. First class the scientist/business class. The crows and the Captain and other crew the government. Weiwei the reader. Elena is nature.
Hm, you're right, it's an astonishingly small number of people... one wonders if it ever made commercial sense?!
Nothing in this book makes any real world sense. It's all a strictly a literary conceit. The train makes sense because the author says it does.