The tyrant grinds down his slaves, and they don’t turn against him; they crush those beneath them.
This is the logic of hurt passed on. The irony is bitter: oppression doesn’t always spark revolt upward; it often spills downward. The line maps a chain of cruelty that the novel then shows in action. It explains how people who were once victims become harsh to others. The Reflective tone makes it feel like a rule of the world, not a momentary mood. Many readers see family or social versions of this pattern.