Proud-Entertainment4 t1_itwi02v wrote
Some older children's books were confusing that way. The family in Little Women thinks they are poor, but they have a part time servant. Now I understand that in those days she was the equivalent of a few appliances, like a dishwasher and blender. Also, they lived in a small house with a cute yard, while the poor people I knew lived in roach infested apartments. TBF the author shows real poverty, too, in the large family of destitute immigrants the little women get to be charitable to, while nobly enduring their lack of a carriage. I find the differences interesting.
hypolimnas t1_itybepl wrote
I think it's a class thing. The class difference in old books seemed to be more about background and education, and less about money. So you would have middle class people who didn't have enough money to be middle class and thought of themselves as poor.
kevnmartin t1_itwsk1r wrote
Live in servant. Hannah lived with them.
Proud-Entertainment4 t1_itwv1l0 wrote
Oh, right. Long time since I read it.
saga_of_a_star_world t1_itxtslo wrote
When the girls exclaim about their Christmas dinner--coffee! popovers!--Hannah remarks how she remembers when they had coffee every day.
And then there's Meg, getting a job watching children, while Jo sells her stories to help the family out.
It's there--just as there is a difference between the position of the Hummels and the Marches, there's a distance between the Marches and Laurie.
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