In 1926: living at the edge of time - Monoskop

166 ARRAYS
A tennis court on board. Luxury cabins.
Whispering telephone lines. Seventy tons.
A ship such as this is like an animal: it has
joints, and stomach, and lungs, eyes, and eyes.
Man strolling high above, your limbs swinging happily­
Don't forget us! We are buried deep in the bowels .
. . . How wonderful this world is for the man above:
he takes his leisure in an easy chair, and a gong
calls him to dinner .
. . . We, a pack of slaves down in the hold­
What can we do? Wrap your fist
in a rag! ... Covet
not your neighbor's possessions!
(Becher, 124-125; also 102)
The contrast between rich and poor passengers becomes even more
apparent upon their transition back to the everyday world, which tends
to reject those who, in traveling across the ocean, try to escape poverty
or persecution: when the ship arrives at its destination, they are often
arrested or sent back to the country from which they came. The same
everyday world, however, eagerly absorbs first-class passengers, who
own, govern, or charm the real world. Jack Gales, the hero of B. Traven's
novel Das Totenschiff (The Death Ship), an American sailor who has
been stranded in a European coastal town without his passport, learns
how hopelessly naive it is to expect that the law will ignore the difference
between rich and poor. The American consul in Paris politely but firmly
refuses to issue Gales a new passport, yet the same functionary openly
displays his eagerness to perform this very service for an opulently
dressed woman with a foreign accent-who happens to be the wife of a
famous banker. The consul is not the slightest bit disconcerted by Gales's
indignation: "'How could you tell she was an American citizen? She can't
even speak English properly ... ' 'In her case, I don't need any evidence.
Her husband, Mr. Reuben Marcus, is one of the most prominent bankers
in New York. Mrs. Marcus came over on the Majestic, and occupied the
most expensive stateroom-I saw her name on the passenger list.' 'Yes,
I understand. You said it, Mr. Consul. I came over on a freighter, as a
lowly deckhand. That, I see, makes all the difference ... A big banking
firm is the only evidence needed to prove a man a citizen.'" (Traven, 49).