Power, class, and race are tied tightly together in American culture, and the same goes for the world presented by The Living. The Paradise Line cruise ship, complete with its over-the-top level of luxury provided by an overworked, under-respected crew, acts as a microcosm of modern capitalist America. The premier class passengers are rich, privileged, and self-centered, and Shy and Carmen are forced to endure their constant microaggressions with a smile if they want to keep their jobs. This dynamic is intended to echo the flaws present in American culture, in particular the ideas that those with money and privilege inherently wield some amount of power over those without, and that the majority of the systems in place work in favor of keeping things that way.

Once the cruise sinks, however—when the society in question is disassembled and the rules that keep the privileged in power are abandoned—things begin to change. Shy sees this firsthand when he, Addison, and William Henry are stranded on a lifeboat together; there is nothing left to keep them from being equals, and that gives them the freedom to bond with each other on a more meaningful level than they ever could on the cruise ship.