How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"You'll share a room with Ann Bradshaw. Ann is most helpful. She is one of our scholarship students."
That's a nice way of saying "one of our charity cases"… (4.64-65)
Being of a lower class amongst those high in society is like being a mouse dropped into a cage full of snakes. Ann is given some of the benefits the rich have by being able to go to Spence, but she will never have the same opportunities once outside its walls.
Quote #5
After all, they have money and position and Ann has none. It's amazing how often you can be right as long as you have those two things working in your favor. (6.40)
Gemma thinks money and status works as a sort of free pass. Do you agree?
Quote #6
"My mother runs a salon in Paris, and when Pippa and I are graduated, we're going to Paris where Mama will have us outfitted by the finest couturiers in France. Perhaps we'll take you along as well."
It's not an invitation. It's a challenge. They want to know if I have the means to keep up with them. "Perhaps," I say. (6.75-76)
This seems to be the equivalent of deer butting heads or young siblings poking each other in the backseat—testing one another with wit rather than brute force.