struggle between the power of

The need for the powerful people to protect their symbols of power and history and the need for the marginalized to try and explode or destroy it is the root of the struggle between the two classes. The viewpoint of the marginalized towards the rich is illustrated well through a saying one of the marginalized characters named Alice had: "In a rich man's house there is nowhere to spit except in his face."(239) People like Patrick just want to be remembered by history just as commissioner Harris and the architects who designed the waterworks will be. Patrick explains this to the Commissioner as they have a conversation in his office: "You forgot us."(235) Then later he explains: "Think of those who built the intake tunnels. Do you know how many of us died in there? There was no record kept."(236) The wealthy such as Harris want symbols such as the waterworks with their expensive toilets and sinks so that in 50 years people will come and look at them and have something to look up to. They do not have very much sympathy for the pain and suffering that it took to construct their monuments. Therefore the marginalized are angry at the self-centeredness of the wealthy and their lack of memory when it comes to the people who make it possible for them to do and make what they want. Through these attitudes is where the struggle between the wealthy and the marginalized begins. .
             The struggle between the power of the wealthy that constructs history and the power of the marginalized to explode is not only apparent in this novel figuratively, but is also shown literally. Patrick and a few of the other marginalized people decided to take matters into their own hands and attempted to literally explode the waterworks with dynamite. This was an attempt to destroy the copper ceilings and the herringbone tiles that the waterworks contained, to destroy this great symbol of wealth and power. They may not have accomplished much for the quality of life of the marginalized through blowing up the waterworks, but it helped the wealthy remember what happens when you forget someone.