Poverty in Naturalism
Oof. This poverty goes way beyond having to eat beans and rice for a while in order to save up for new boots. Poverty, Naturalism-style, is about having no boots, no beans, and no rice.
Poverty is a big theme in Naturalist fiction. We'll find a lot of Naturalist works about characters who live in poverty or who come from a background of poverty. The reason Naturalists were so interested in poverty is that it's an environment of extremes.
If we don't have enough clothes, or food, we exist in a state that puts a lot of pressure on us. The Naturalists were interested in what happens to people when they exist in situations of deprivation, like poverty.
Chew On This
The tenant farmers in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath are not exactly living the high life. Have a look at these quotations showing the farmers talking about their poverty.
Technology and modernization have a very bad effect on the town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, where Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome is set. The town is plunged into even deeper poverty as a result of the railroad. Have a look at an analysis of the themes of poverty and modernization here.