The Swerve details and thoughts

A few details that caught my interest inside of chapter one, are about how hierarchies were in the time of the story (which is the 1400s). For example, on page 15, “What mattered was what you belonged to or even whom you belonged to.” was a sentence that caught my interest because of how different society was 500 years ago compared to today. In the past, depending on your status or even what you looked like, you could be doomed into slavery, or to be impoverished your entire life. In the 1400s, that may be the Lord of the town, or your employer. Another detail is on page 18, “To all but a few people in Germany, this quest, how Poggio tried to articulate it, would’ve have seemed weird.” where it speaks about how people who lived in different far away may not see things in the same light. It speaks about how some people, especially those in poverty, and who are illiterate, would have seen Poggio’s journey as extremely odd, or even blasphemous in some eyes.

I think in some few ways our worlds are connected still. If someone came through a small rural town in Maine, and told the residents that they were looking for a book that no one has heard of, or has an odd description, people would probably see this person as very odd. Especially if they were from a foreign country.

My question is, would we, in our society today, still outcast the Poggios of today’s world? Would we laugh? Ignore? Or perhaps help this person in their journey? The point is, are we any better than the people in the 1400s?