Question: When Jack goes to the first class to have dinner, and Ruth and Cal are asking him questions about being in third class and being poor in general, what are they hoping to achieve from embarrassing him in front of all the people at their table? Even Molly doesn't seem too pleased with their line of questioning.
Heather Benton
29th Aug 2012
Titanic (1997)
28th May 2012
Titanic (1997)
Question: Bit of a stupid question, but was just wondering. When Mr Andrews is talking to Rose, Cal and Ruth during the tour of the ship, Rose says that there are not enough boats for everyone on board, and Mr Andrews explains that he wanted more boats or something, and he was told that they would make the deck too cluttered so he was overruled, and the ship got the boats it does. But as Mr Andrews designed/ constructed the ship, surely it's up to him how many lifeboats there are etc, so why did he back down?
Chosen answer: It certainly was not up to him. Andrews was only the designer and an employee of the company, White Star Line. Whatever he may have wanted or recommended, the company had the power and the legal right to overrule him in favor of what they felt made the ship more profitable. They did not want their high-paying clientele's ocean view obstructed by too many lifeboats. Safety regulations were far more lax at this time, though many new ones were enacted following the tragedy, including more lifeboats.
Answer: Regulations at the time required ships over 10,000 tons to have 16 lifeboats on board, Titanic which was 40,000 tons had 20 so four more than required. In the 2 1/2 hours it took Titanic to sink they managed to get 18 of 20 boats off safely, collapsibles A and B were floated off and one was even capsized. It's quite possible that if Titanic had more lifeboats more lives would've been lost due to having to work around the extra boats they possibly would've got less boats away.
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Chosen answer: Molly is only recently wealthy, that's why she's not amused. Ruth and Cal are bad people, basically. They take pleasure from from humiliating Jack.
Phixius ★
As you say, Molly was "new money" - a person who had recently become wealthy. Those who were born into wealthy families - "old money" - sometimes acted superior to "new money" people. Molly seems to have more sympathy for Jack because of her background. Her life was not always comfortable.