Poverty in literature
Poverty in literature serves as a profound theme that reflects the human experience and societal structures. Emerging prominently in the nineteenth century during industrialization, it captures the stark contrast between wealth and poverty, often highlighting the struggles of the marginalized. Literary works frequently employ poverty as a plot device to evoke sympathy, create conflict, or critique social injustices. Notable authors like Charles Dickens depicted the harsh realities of poverty in their narratives, using their works to advocate for social reform and to challenge prevailing perceptions of the poor. Various forms of literature, from rags-to-riches tales to social problem novels, explore the complexities of poverty, including its moral implications and the interpersonal dynamics shaped by economic disparity. The portrayal of poverty can range from the struggles of urban factory workers to the genteel poverty experienced by members of the upper class facing financial ruin. Throughout history, novels like "Oliver Twist," "Little Women," and "The Grapes of Wrath" have not only illustrated the challenges of poverty but also highlighted resilience and the pursuit of dignity amid adversity. Overall, literature on poverty provides valuable insights into societal issues, prompting readers to reflect on class dynamics and the enduring impact of economic hardship.
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Poverty in literature
Poverty or how it affects the lives of individuals and societies is a common theme in literature. It emerged in social-issues novels of the nineteenth century, when industrialization created enormous chasms between the wealthy and the poor. Rags to riches stories, in which the protagonist rises from poverty to wealth, have been particularly popular. Some authors, such as British writer Charles Dickens, wrote about poverty to appeal to the wealthy and encourage social change. Others have equated poverty with immorality and sermonized on issues such as addiction and sexual behavior. Poverty may be a plot device that the author uses to establish conflict, make a character appear sympathetic, or highlight an injustice, among other goals.
Background
Humankind has always experienced poverty, and throughout human history the majority of people have been poor. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, poverty meant hunger and food insecurity; it was not a social issue. Since about the eighteenth century, poverty has been measured in terms of economic and social indicators. In modern times, the primary indicator is measured using income per capita. This allows researchers and policymakers to distinguish between extreme and relative poverty. Extreme poverty refers to conditions in which basic needs are not met, while relative poverty considers social standards that define a given population’s wealth.
The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in about the middle of the eighteenth century. Prior to this change in social structure, most people in Europe lived in small and medium-sized villages. The populations of Britain and many other European countries grew rapidly during the eighteenth century. This coincided with the development of new technologies that increased agricultural production; this development helped to feed the growing populations but decreased the need for labor on farms. However, increased industrialization led to greater demand for labor in factories. Many people moved from rural to urban areas, where they faced overcrowding and unsafe working and living conditions. About 20 percent of the British population lived in urban communities in 1800, but by the middle of the century, the percentage had increased to half. Workers were often poorly paid and exploited by factory owners. Furthermore, this urbanization and industrialization of England and other countries changed the relationships between classes that had been in place for many centuries.
Concern about the plight of the poor was reflected in literature. In the United States, novels about financial and social ruin abounded from the end of the eighteenth century into the early nineteenth century. Some examples include Ormond; or, The Secret Witness (1799) by Charles Brockden Brown and Hannah Webster Foster’s 1797 epistolary novel The Coquette or, The History of Eliza Wharton.
In England, social commentary about poverty and social class was present in eighteenth-century works by authors such as Charles Dickens. Such works were known as social-problem novels as well as industrial, social, or condition-of-England novels. Examples include Dickens’s Oliver Twist (1838) and Hard Times (1854); Helen Fleetwood (1841) by Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna; Charlotte Bronte’sShirley (1849); and Benjamin Disraeli’sConingsby (1844) and Sybil (1845). Early Victorian condition-of-England novels tended to exaggerate the conditions of the working class but were a crucial means by which reformers educated novel readers in the middle and upper classes.
Overview
Writers of social novels, commonly called condition-of-England novels in that country, frequently used fictional accounts of people living in poverty to make statements about the state of the nation, class, gender, and the increasing unrest related to the growing chasm between the rich and the poor. Often, the authors sought to bring change by shedding light on the squalid conditions in which workers and their families lived and encouraging sympathy for the working class. Many of these novels focus on a male protagonist who navigates society and overcomes obstacles. Overall, these efforts were slowly successful; England initiated welfare reforms in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For example, Frances Trollope wrote the novel Michael Armstrong, the Factory Boy (1840) to promote the Ten Hours Movement, which limited the textile mill workday for women and those ages thirteen to eighteen to ten hours. Seven years later, Parliament passed the Ten Hours Act.
Some very well-known novels feature poverty as a central concern and explore related social issues. For example, in Oliver Twist, Dickens describes the life of a boy who was orphaned at birth and lived first in an orphanage and later in a workhouse. Dickens, who firmly believed that poverty leads to crime, illustrates this effect when Oliver falls becomes associated with a criminal who trains homeless boys to be pickpockets. Oliver attempts to escape this criminal gang, only to be pursued relentlessly. In the end, Oliver is revealed to be the illegitimate son of a Mr. Leeford and entitled to a share of the family inheritance. Though initially, he is penniless and not well educated, Oliver exemplifies goodness. Writing the character as he did was Dickens’s attempt to demonstrate to the society of time that, contrary to popular belief, poor people are not born corrupt.
Dickens wrote about poverty from personal experience. His father was arrested and placed in debtors’ prison for three months. His mother and siblings joined John Dickens in prison, but the twelve-year-old future author was forced to leave school and work in a factory as the family’s sole breadwinner. The family was in such dire straits that his mother forced him to continue working after his father was released. Although Dickens wrote fictional accounts of this time in his life, the poverty that led to the experience was so shameful that he revealed it only to his wife and a single friend. The truth only came to light after his death when his friend published Dickens’s biography.
English author Jane Austen likewise wrote about poverty but for a different audience and reasons. Many of her characters are members of the noble class who are impoverished or in danger of becoming so. She focused frequently on young women whose future is in doubt unless they can procure a wealthy husband, preferably of a higher social status. Four sisters in Pride and Prejudice (1813) face an uncertain future because their father has had no sons to inherit the estate; upon his death, it will go to a male cousin, leaving the sisters and their mother nearly penniless. A similar situation in Sense and Sensibility (1811) sees a widow and her three daughters forced to rely on the kindness of a wealthy relative when her stepson turns them out.
American author Louisa May Alcott also wrote about genteel poverty in her classic Little Women (1868). Like Dickens, she grew up poor. Alcott’s father was an educator but completely disinterested in practicalities such as feeding his family. Alcott vowed at an early age to support her family and became a breadwinner by selling pulp fiction. In her novel, the March family occupies a prominent and respected position in their New England community but struggle financially because Mr. March lost his savings in a failed business deal with a friend. The four March sisters, who lament going without all the luxuries their neighbors enjoy, such as new gowns, learn from their mother that poverty is relative. On Christmas, Mrs. March takes them to visit an immigrant family living in a shack with broken windows. They have no food and no fuel for the fire. After the March sisters give the starving children their Christmas breakfast, they soberly return to their worn but warm and comfortable home.
Many well-known American novels have addressed the hardships of the Great Depression. The classic novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck follows a family that loses its farm in Oklahoma. The Joads join thousands of others heading west to be migrant farm workers.
Pam Munoz Ryan’s young adult historical fiction novel Esperanza Rising (2000) depicts Esperanza’s luxurious life as the only daughter of a wealthy Mexican family. After her father is murdered, Esperanza and her mother escape to the United States, where they live in abject poverty as migrant workers. Like many others, they struggle to survive the Great Depression. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1977), which like Esperanza takes place during the Great Depression, is about a Black family in rural Mississippi. The Logan family owns its farm but, like the rest of the Black community, cannot get ahead because of Jim Crow laws. Furthermore, they have a mortgage on half the land but cannot make enough money growing cotton to pay the mortgage and taxes. Cassie Logan and her three brothers cope with poverty, racism, and other struggles while their father is away working for the railroad to bring in extra money.
The 1967 novel The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton is another young adult novel. It shows the class struggles of two rival White gangs, the Greasers, who live in poverty, and the preppy, upper-middle-class Socials, known as Socs. Because the Greasers are working-class teens, they are harassed by the Socs and law enforcement. This and several of Hinton’s other novels often explore broken homes, discrimination based on economic and social status, and absent parents.
Bibliography
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