The apartments that István inhabits throughout the novel mark the periodic shifts in his perceived socioeconomic status, serving as an illustration of The Illusion of Social Mobility. Notably, despite the many changes in his circumstances, István’s story begins and ends in his mother’s small apartment in a post-communist Hungarian housing estate: a space defined by a lack of privacy and limited prospects. This setting establishes the baseline for his journey, representing the world he strives to escape, and the constant memory of his mother’s apartment serves as a stark point of comparison for the luxurious spaces that he will later inhabit but never own. Crucially, his return to this place emphasizes just how pointless his ambitions have proven to be.

Between these two periods of his life, István’s temporary ascent in London is marked by his growing access to increasingly opulent apartments, and these temporary settings chart his perceived social progress. The first such shift occurs when he moves from the shared housing to the more upscale flat that he can afford when Mervyn turns him into a high-end bodyguard. However, even when he occupies more rarified living quarters in the Nymans’ household, his position within these elite worlds is always conditional. As Helen Nyman’s security driver, he enjoys access to their prestigious address but remains forever a subordinate, as his apartment can only be accessed through the so-called “tradesmen’s entrance (133). This detail illustrates that his proximity to wealth does not grant him equal status in the eyes of the elite. Ultimately, his rise is superficial because he remains dependent on others, and his final return to his mother’s apartment after his fortune is lost completes the tragic circle. For all his travels through the worlds of the wealthy, he never escapes his starting point.