Hiro would have chalked it all up to class differences, except that her parents
lived in a house in Mexicali with a dirt floor, and his father made more money
than many college professors. But the class idea still held sway in his mind,
because class is more than income -- it has to do with knowing where you stand
in a web of social relationships. Juanita and her folks knew where they stood
with a certitude that bordered on dementia. Hiro never knew. His father was a
sergeant major, his mother was a Korean woman whose people had been mine slaves
in Nippon, and Hiro didn't know whether he was black or Asian or just plain
Army, whether he was rich or poor, educated or ignorant, talented or lucky. He
didn't even have a part of the country to call home until he moved to
California, which is about as specific as saying that you live in the Northern
Hemisphere. In the end, it was probably his general disorientation that did
them in.
lived in a house in Mexicali with a dirt floor, and his father made more money
than many college professors. But the class idea still held sway in his mind,
because class is more than income -- it has to do with knowing where you stand
in a web of social relationships. Juanita and her folks knew where they stood
with a certitude that bordered on dementia. Hiro never knew. His father was a
sergeant major, his mother was a Korean woman whose people had been mine slaves
in Nippon, and Hiro didn't know whether he was black or Asian or just plain
Army, whether he was rich or poor, educated or ignorant, talented or lucky. He
didn't even have a part of the country to call home until he moved to
California, which is about as specific as saying that you live in the Northern
Hemisphere. In the end, it was probably his general disorientation that did
them in.
( Neal Stephenson )
[ Snow Crash ]
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