Class and Hierachy

• "He's a lascar, -You're an educated young woman now." - Firoza


  Lascars were of a very low class and paid less than their white counterparts.
• "Stop crowding round he poor girl... move, move!" -Lascar Sally


  Lascar Sally is a woman of lower class but she uses the authority and education she does have to help others.
• "If you refuse to come with me immediately, I will make sure no captain or serang will give you employment ever again." - Serang


  The Serang uses his higher status to threaten and intimidate the lascars, despite them being of the same ethnic backround
• "So much power in her hands. The lands she ruled gravitated around her, like planets circling the sun." -Abdul


  Emphasises just how much power Victoria wielded.
• "Instead of cooking curries you will be our teacher" - Queen Victoria


  QV, as top of the hierarchy, uses her position to upgrade Abdul's status from her servant to her teacher.