10 Comments

I'll bet she was fuming.

As much as I'd like to see this young twit taken down a few pegs, I have serious problems with the lasses not being able to say no to being claimed by one of the officers for the evening. I wouldn't mind it being unthinkable, and having everyone be in shock by her doing so, but she should be able to do it.

Also, is "scum" a pejorative, or merely description? How insulted would they be to be called that?

Even if she isn't officially called out for her rudeness, she may find that even being the governor's daughter doesn't keep her from the scorn of public opinion.

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Feb 23Author

Yeah well you’re definitely getting it some of the tensions I’m trying to bring out to the beginning of the book. I do hope people are understanding that this is a dictatorship. So a lot of the things that people might do naturally are not going to be things that they’re going to be doing in this particular story.

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If she were as smart as she thinks she is, she would have gone out there with a smile and killed him with excruciating politeness.

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Feb 23Author

Well, that sort of what she’s saying to herself. That she should’ve seen it sooner and not been so surprised and better able to handle it.

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Feb 23Author

But that might be something I can put back in that chapter.

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Feb 23Author

Yes, scum is extremely pejorative. She is from the upper of the upper classes. However, these classes have been destroyed by the dictatorship but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t still look down on people lower than her.

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Feb 23Author

Are you familiar with the expression trailer trash?

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Familiar with it? We have some living in our basement. I wouldn't mind it so much that he very seldom can make the rent, but him taking our food when he has been repeatedly told he does not have food rights in this house, and borrowing our silverware and dish cloths and then throwing them away when he's finished really get to me.

But he's not nearly as bad as a couple of his friends who he gave permission to camp in our yard over Thanksgiving (note: he lacks that authority) who trashed our yard (really, how can you make that much mess in **three** days? I am not a neat person, but I could not pile that much mess up in a year, if I were *trying*. But the worst thing is that they walked off with my $75 Donald Duck watch. For me, that is expensive. Now, the $15 watch I have now is probably more my style, but I really liked that thing.

Sorry for ranting on your wall.

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Feb 23Author

Well, that sort of the equivalent of the expression scum

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Illoia is arrogant for a woman of high status only because her relative turned worm silk into dresses and made a fortune. That fortune was probably part of what got her father his governor's job.

Is Tom really that much of a scum? She doesn't know anything about him other than that he has three medals that sound equivalent to "The Medal of Honor." I would assume that you don't get the "Dictator's own" for staying disease-free for six months. You'd have to do something extraordinary to get them.

Could it be that Tom doesn't consider honorifics important because he's used them all his life?

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