The quiet evil of snobbery

Perhaps influenced by late winter  longings, I was attracted

    to the lurid cover of a paperback magazine  while browsing at

    " Twice Told Tales "  in Pawtuxet Village : " Tales of the South

    Pacific " by James A. Michener .

           After reading  " An Officer and a Gentleman " , I reflected

    on one of the ironies of our " democracy "  : there are no

    laws against social snobbery - a quiet evil that ruins millions

    of lives.

             Michener's  non- hero character, Ensign Bill Harbison,

    is  unhappy with the navy because his star is not rising fast

    enough - while a brother in law has just made captain in

    the Army . Not much to do on that South Pacific paradise but

    try to stay in shape with the sports  there. At night he

    dreaded a pile of  letters - always stupid and naive - which

    was his duty to censor. " Bill never saw any human dignity in

    the letters he read ".

              Bill is attracted to a pretty nurse  , Nellie

     Forbush - " from a small hick town in Arkansas " , and

    from a social class way beneath  gentleman Bill.

             One day Nellie  looked so beautiful on the beach

    that Bill just had to have her : " He ripped her dress and

    brassiere ".

            " Bill ! Stop ! " insisted Nellie .

      " He paid no attention to her entreaties but kept clawing

    at her underwear ".

           In desperation Nellie hit him on the head with a

    coconut.

             A little later in the story Nellie realizes - of

    course ! - that she loves Bill - but will he marry her ?

    Is there a chance - " when the war is over ? "

           Officer and Gentleman Bill Harbison was flabbergasted

    by the nerve of " a common little girl from some hick

    town "  . Never in a hundred years would he have noticed

    Nellie Forbush in the states.

           We will assume that Nellie ( recall her name from

    the popular musical " South Pacific " ) had to wash

    THAT MAN right out of her hair .

             More than a half a century after World War II,

    democracy is thriving in America and the gap between the

    social classes is greater than ever.