Allusion in Tipping the Velvet

Through Diana and Florence, Sara Waters reveals differences in class through different preferences in literature. Diana is the rich and vicious widow bitch who rescues Nan from the streets. Diana keeps her collection of erotic pamphlets and novels hidden away in a trunk in her bedroom, which seems to be the approach of the wealthy. Not wanting to be associated with the 'Tom's' (Kitty's word for openly gay women), the wealthy hide their risque books and magazines. Admirably, the snobbish Diana helps produce a magazine on Suffrage, but considers Nan, the oyster-shop girl, too low class to gain anything from reading it.

Florence's taste in literature are quite different. Being the socialist activist who gives Nan a home after Diana throws her out, we come to understand her as being sensitive, intelligent and romantic through what she chooses to read. Florence spends much of her time working for Women’s Cooperative Guild and the union. Each night, Florence labored for the cause by writing, reading, comparing pages, and addressing envelopes. Through Florence, Nan discovers Elenanor Marx and Walt Whitman. For Florence, the intellectual writers were more of a source of stimulation than pornography. Sharing her preferences with Nan (they read out loud to each other) added the intimacy that solidified their relationship.