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Steven Biel’s “Unknown and Unsung” talked about how the Titanic was viewed through different perspectives.  These different perspectives came from “the most important and troubling problems, tensions, and conflicts of the time.” (Biel pg.306)  Not only that, but Biel goes on to say that the people’s interpretation of the Titanic’s sinking was a “collective work” one that was “pervasive, defying clear-cut divisions between conservatives and reformers, between high culture and low culture, between staid and sensational reporting, between sections and regions of the country.” (Biel pg.306) One of the perspectives Biel touches upon is gender/class.  Biel discuss how there was this whole myth behind the first cabin male passengers on the Titanic, and how they gave up their lives because they put women and children first.  Biel goes on to say that not only did these wealthy men die to save women and children, but they also died so that their “weaker” counterparts might live. This act Biel says “reinforced conservative views of gender and class relations in which both women and workers were best served by accepting the authority and protection of paternalistic elites.” (Biel pg.307)  I found this very interesting because it brought to my mind the Communist Manifesto and the very reason that it was made.  ZHEDRICK talks about how the Communist Manifesto was a “philosophical work that proposes a societal shift in which the proletariat rises above the shackles of the bourgeoisie and creates a world of economic and social equality.”  Conservatives during the Titanic’s sinking thought that women and workers could not fend for themselves and that is why they needed the elites to look out after them.  To these conservatives the Titanic proved that these elites were superior and smarter than women and workers.  Through this view we can see that gender/class was a big topic during this period.