How does Larkin explore ideas of inequality between social classes?

How does Larkin explore ideas of inequality between social classes?

Larkin explores ideas of inequality between social classes through the poem 'The Large Cool Store' which is about a store which sells the kinds of clothes that working class people would buy and how the style and colour of them reflects their boring, repetitive everyday lives. Ideas of inequality are explored in this poem because Larkin highlights to the reader how the proletarians' lives seem unfair.

Firstly the title of the poem could reflect the capitalist society in which Larkin was writing in because he employs the word 'cool' which has the meaning of being cold, emotionless and heartless. This demonstrates how Larkin explores the ideas of inequality between social classes because the proletarians would've viewed the capitalist society as being cold, emotionless and heartless as a result of suffering exploitation from the bourgeoisie and experiencing low wages in work places. It's evident that the proletarians would've viewed society in this way because of the colours they dressed themselves in which were 'browns and greys'. These are dull colours to reflect their dull lives due to the way the bourgeoisie treat them. 

The structure of the poem is very consistent and repetitive which again, could be deliberate in order to depict the lives of the proletarians as their day to day lives would've been very consistent and repetitive. This is because they would have had the same work to do every day while the bourgeoisie are free to do as they please in the capitalist society. This is how Larkin explores ideas of inequality between social classes through the structure of the poem and he highlights the alienation of the working class and how they were marginalised by the bourgeoisie because the superstructure's job is to keep the base in order.

Furthermore, Larkin presents the idea of social class inequality through the descriptions of where the working class live; in 'low terraced houses'  and how he mentions the fact they work in 'factories, yard and site'. This demonstrates how they're at the bottom of the hierarchy order of capitalist societies because they have the smallest houses and have low paid, low skilled jobs. This highlights how the proletarians were oppressed by the bourgeoisie because they kept them in low paid, low skilled job deliberately to empower themselves more in their society by paying low wages to keep more money for themselves. 

Larkin also enables the reader to see how the proletarians try to escape their dull work lies in the evenings and  at weekends by dressing in brighter, more glamorous  colours such as: 'lemon, sapphire, moss-green' which contrast with the original colours of 'browns and greys' that they wear for work. The colours may represent how advertising creates the illusion that people can escape their dull, boring lives in creating false needs for lots of different clothes to show different wealths and different classes. 

The society in which Larkin was both capitalist and patriarchal. This is shown through the language used in 'The Large Cool Store' and the way in which Larkin not only presents the working class, but women too and women's clothing. He uses the verb 'flounce' in order to describe women's clothes which could be to represent his views on women and how he sees them as flirtatious. It comes across very strongly in this poem that Larkin does not have a high opinion of women, which would've been typical of men in this society. As Janice Rossen states: 'To call Larkin a misogynist would be an overstatement - to call him a misanthropist might be closer to the mark.' 

To conclude, Larkin explores the idea of social class inequality through the structure of the poem, the title of the poem and the language he uses to describe the colours, houses and work lives related to the proletarians. He also shows how the proletarians had boring and mundane lives compared to the bourgeoisie which also suggests the class inequalities that were present.