[Shepherd]

Originally Posted by Scruffydog777

I think it's meant some what in the sense of 'Les Miserables". In that book, the main character was sentenced to 5 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread and the movie also showed the miserable existence of most of the working class back then.

As far as the bastards, I think it's just meant in todays sense as when we see a group of people in trouble, many people are apt to say " the poor bastards', not in a critical sense, but in a sympathetic sense. Bastards has at least a couple of meanings and I don't think any of them are good. In many uses, it was meaning of a person of poor character or years ago when it was taboo, it referred to someone born out of wed lock, but I think in this case, it is being used as people who are homeless and down on their luck.

Thanks for that explanation. The use of "bastards" also had me baffled.