Social Hierarchy/Prejudice

From the first page of the work, Blake references the idea of WASPS, "those families that used to run the world" (1). The work itself is laced with the trope of entitlement, and the idea that the affluent, elitist families of America deemed themselves the gatekeepers of the world, given their superior breeding. Early on in the work, it becomes clear that the Miltons see Jews as sub-standard, whether it be Kitty scoffing at seeing Jews in her neighborhood, or the two discussing how a girl who married a Jew would always be labeled as "the girl who married a Jew" (75).

This motif is repeated as Joan is discouraged from her relationship with Len, and Evie is judged for her marriage to Paul. Similarly, Evie's colleague tries to broach the subject of her grandparents' elitism and ill-gotten gain, much to Evie's denial. Hazel remarks on...