Class

The central theme, as shown through it being used as the title of the novel, is class, although not the exploration of the class system as a whole, but instead an investigation into the lives of a very specific, elite social class operating in Italy in the early twenty-first century, and the way members of this class are blinded to their own privilege. All of the characters in the novel are wealthy by global and historical standards, and most (especially Ludovica and Berengo) are also considered wealthy even within their own social circles. However many of the characters engage in a game of compare and contrast with the aim of throwing off their own privilege by suggesting it is not as great as the privilege of those around them.

The narrator adopts a condescending attitude towards members of this class throughout her narration, using Communist terminology...