When There’s Dramatization of Economic Stratification

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Literature often contains gender dynamics and racial dynamics, but there can also be class dynamics. Given how depressingly present class divisions are in real life, it’s good to see some fiction wrestle with that, too.

In Night Road (2011), another emotionally wrenching novel from Kristin Hannah that I read last week, among the major characters are best friends Mia (daughter of a doctor) and Lexi (daughter of an impoverished mother). The respective “stations” in life of those two and others are major drivers of Hannah’s plot.

Another friendship fraught with class differences is the one between well-to-do Amir and servant’s son Hassan in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner (2003).

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) has a diverse cast that includes a “houseboy” (Ugwu), a professor (Odenigo), and two women (Olanna and Kainene) from an affluent family during the Nigerian Civil War.

Liane Moriarty’s 2014 novel Big Little Lies features a single mother (Jane) who is less affluent than most of the other parents at the Australian school her son attends.

Just before Night Road, I read John Grisham’s A Painted House (2001) — which features a struggling farm family in 1950s Arkansas. But even though the Chandlers barely get by, they’re in better financial shape than the “hill people” and Mexican migrant workers they hire to help pick the cotton crop. In turn, the Chandlers are worse off economically than a relative who’s a unionized auto-factory worker visiting from Detroit.

A book of course doesn’t have to be from the 21st century to have class consciousness. In the 20th century, Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country (1913) looks at new money vs. old money as it chronicles the saga of upward striver Undine Spragg. (The main characters are all affluent but there’s still a class divide.) And the guests in Vicki Baum’s Grand Hotel (1929) include a businessman (Preysing) and an underling (Kringelein) who the businessman initially doesn’t know is also staying at the hotel.

In the 19th century, Emile Zola’s Germinal (1885) focuses on mineworkers and mine owners heading for a showdown. The characters in George Eliot’s Silas Marner (1861) include a landowner secretly married to a working-class woman and the child of that union who ends up being raised by someone else. Also published in 1861 was one of Charles Dickens’ most class-conscious novels, Great Expectations, in which impoverished orphan Pip comes into some money.

Your thoughts about, and examples of, this theme?

My literary-trivia book is described and can be purchased here: Fascinating Facts About Famous Fiction Authors and the Greatest Novels of All Time.

In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column every Thursday for Montclair Local. The latest piece — about one suggested voting-age change, two traffic lights, and more — is here.

97 thoughts on “When There’s Dramatization of Economic Stratification”

  2. Elizabeth Gaskell’s “North and South” dramatized the conflict between mill owners and workers in Northern England in the mid 19th century.            

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  3. Hi Dave, an interesting discussion this week. The book that springs immediately to mind for me is The Second Mrs Astor by Shana Abe. John Jacobs second wife came from money, but she wasn’t a ‘knickerbocker’ and wasn’t good enough for his snooty peer group. Another novel along these lines is Tess of the d’Urbervilles who is so mistreated by her wealthy so called ‘relative’ and then cast away. The Chimes, a short story by Charles Dickens, also had a strong focus on class distinction. I know there are many more but these spring immediately to mind.

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  4. Dave,

    Many of my fave classic novels have class distinction.

    Main Street by Sinclair Lewis… Carol, a college graduate from the city marries and moves to a small town with her husband. I suppose it is only partly about wealth and poverty. Ugliness and conformity of the poorer towns folk vs. a progressiveness and open mind of those who have had the money and where with all to obtain higher education.

    Through the course of the story “The Good Earth” by Pearl S. Buck reveals one family’s journey through the class structure of China during the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries.

    “A Tale of Two Cities” – The aristocracy vs the peasants.

    That’s my mew cents!

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  5. I’ll have to check out that Kristin Hannah book – I’ve yet to find one of hers that I didn’t like. I also like Big Little Lies and other works by Moriarty – I’m actually currently reading Nine Perfect Strangers and enjoying it immensely.

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    • Thank you, M.B.! I feel the same away about Kristin Hannah’s work; I’ve read more than a dozen of her novels during the past year-and-a-half, and have not disliked one, either. All ranging from very good to GREAT! Similar feelings about Liane Moriarty — I enjoyed the half-dozen or so novels I’ve read of hers very much, including the excellent “Nine Perfect Strangers.”

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  6. I think The Lord of the Rings (1954/55) offers a fascinating (and disturbing) example of British class consciousness in the relationship between “Mr. Frodo” and Sam. Of the two, Sam is the real hero, but he is always subservient to his “Master.”

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    • Thank you, Kim! Totally agree! Without Sam, Frodo could not have done what he did. Sam was indeed the real hero among the hobbits.

      There’s definitely a literary tradition of the “servant” having more sense than the “master” — in British and non-British fiction. Jeeves in the Jeeves/Bertie Wooster stories, Nelly Dean in “Wuthering Heights,” Sancho Panza in “Don Quixote,” Lee in “East of Eden,” etc.

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      • I never thought about it like that, Dave, but you’re right about that servant/master tradition in literature. Still, P G Wodehouse shows his readers that Jeeves is much smarter than Bertie, whereas sometimes I wondered in LotR if Tolkien himself saw Sam as anything more than a loyal servant. 

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  7. I think, Dave, that your topic of this week is getting more and more into the focus of our observations! I have read some of your proposed books and remember, for example the Skite Runner or Silas Marner quite well.
    There is one Russian novel, or Dead Souls by Gogol that comes to my mind.The protagonist is travelling across the Russian Empire, because he wants to purchase from the Russian aristocracy the rights of the deceased serfs and get then a bank loan and, finally, also become rich himself. Many thanks

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  8. Charles Dickens challenged a lot of class differences in his books.
    Jane Austen includes some of that too. Though her characters aren’t working class girls, they’re not “rich” either and especially in Pride & Prejudice there’s issues about Lizzie & Jane not being classy enough.
    Great post btw.

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  9. Another fascinating topic, Dave, where the comments are poking my memory and adding to my reading list. The Jungle comes to mind when I think of class differences, although I read it only once, about 50 years ago.

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  10. I get so many good reading ideas from your blog. For instance, “Silas Marner” is a classic that I have never read; and I have a compendium of Zola works on my bookshelves. Your readers add a lot of good information, as well as pithy critiques.

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    • Thank you, Katharine! 🙂 “Silas Marner” and several of Zola’s novels are great reads! (My favorite Zola book, after “Germinal,” might be the depressing-but-terrific “The Drinking Den.”) And I agree about the excellent reader comments! 🙂

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  11. I’ll add Orwell’s 1984 to the list above; however, after your last post re: Steinbeck’s Grapes Of Wrath, I took a trip back to Cannery Row. I must say the Taoist philosophy in that novel kinda negates class dynamics–ie the characters were basically all poor yet happy living simple lives in harmony with nature. It’s when they struggled against simplicity, harmony and nature that everything went south. Thanks Dave. Susi

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    • Thank you, Susi! “1984” is an excellent mention — class differences, dystopian style. George Orwell was an acute observer of class differences in several of his books and other writing.

      And you’re right — Steinbeck was more insightful about class in “The Grapes of Wrath” than in “Cannery Row” and its sequel “Sweet Thursday.” But the latter two novels were fun in their way. 🙂

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  12. This look at class in books shows how deeply money and social status affect stories, and how writers from various times and places handle this theme. It’s fascinating to see how such themes connect readers across generations and cultures.

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  13. Class dynamics in novels do create interesting and intriguing drama. Of the modern novels, you’ve mentioned, I’ve only read Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner.” A novel of this theme that I’ve enjoyed is “The Downstairs Girl” by Stacey Lee (USA, 2019). Set in Atlanta, 1890, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady’s maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta.

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  15. Thank you for introducing class dynamics in this post, Dave. Themes of class distinctions are ubiquitous in literature throughout the centuries. For example, in William Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet,” the intricate dynamics of rank and social class are vividly portrayed through the hardships faced by the lower-class characters due to the actions of the royal family and upper class.

    Class dynamics come in “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, and “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë. These novels explore the societal divides between the upper and lower classes, highlighting themes of wealth, status, and privilege in 18th and 19th-century England.

    Today, this themes continues to play out in “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles. Class dynamics were highlighted through the interactions between Count Alexander Rostov, a former aristocrat, and the hotel staff. One particular instance is when the Count’s request for a specific wine is denied by the waiter due to its unavailability, showcasing the subtle power dynamics and restrictions imposed by the societal hierarchy in the setting of the Metropol Hotel.

    As you can see, I am very interested in exploring class dynamic. Books that include this theme valuable insights into societal structures, inequalities, and the impact of social status on individuals’ lives. They are not easy reads, but I find that these books and authors have increased my critical thinking skills, and provided me with a broader awareness of the complexities of the world we live.

    Because this is a very important discussion for our time, I had to leave two quotes.

    “When there is no middle class, and the poor greatly exceed in number, troubles arise, and the state soon comes to an end.” Aristotle

    “What improves the circumstances of the greater part can never be regarded as an inconveniency to the whole. No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable.” Adam Smith, The Wealth Of Nations

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  16. Yea a great topic for us marxista types to chew on. I am currently reading Liu Xinwu’s The Wedding Party set in Beijing 1982. The Chinese it seems like the English French and Japanese and probably everyone else in the world are obsessed with comparing themselves to others and to their own expectations and dreams. Liu himself talks of this book as like an orange with many segments, each on one juicy but only really together do you get the whole picture- or enough to make a glass of orange juice!

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      • Thank you, Ralph! I enjoyed your description of “The Wedding Party,” including that vivid orange metaphor from the author! Yes, people often compare themselves by nationality, class, etc. I guess it’s human nature, and some countries and some people definitely have it better than others.

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  17. An excellent theme, and one which I’ve used in my own writing. As to books you’ve named above that I’ve read, I love how Eppie in ‘Silas Marner’–when her UC biological father and his wife, who can’t have their own children come to claim her from Silas–makes a statement of class solidarity. ‘I don’t want to be a lady,’ she states–or words to that effect–sending them away with a flea in their collective ears by telling them that Silas who’s raised her is her real father, the WC people among whom she’d grown up are her community, and that she’s going to marry a working man, Aaron Winthrop. Brilliant stuff. I feel sorry for the ‘progressive’ mine owner in Germinal (his name escapes me) who’s tried to run a mine that gives fair wages and conditions to the miners, but ends up losing it all in the wake of the strike and riot. (I have the same edition as you’re showing above, incidentally). Finally, the class prejudice of the Bingley sisters in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is interesting. The Bingley family is clearly not ‘old money’ – as shown by Bingley renting a house, rather than having inherited his own ancestral pile – and how else therefore would they have made their money but in trade? Hence the snobbish sisters looking down on Sir William Lucas and making catty comments about him (‘I’m sure he kept a very good shop’ to paraphrase). It’s the custom to do so in such situations, just in case anybody thinks they’re of the same social class as you. Finally, in Elizabeth Gaskell’s ‘Mary Barton’ we see Mr Carson the mill owner–who comes from the WC himself–treating workers badly and reaping tragic consequences. There’s no suggestion that he does so from being a bad person, he’s just forgotten what life is like at the bottom of the heap. Hence John Barton–who’s been laid off from the mill and just lost his son to starvation–sees Mrs Carson buying goods for a party she’s to give. I’d better leave something for others to comment, but another great topic. Thank you, Dave. 🙂

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    • Thank you, Laura! Great examples of, and great remarks about, this topic!

      Yes, the “Silas Marner” scene you describe is an ultra-memorable one. Silas was clearly the best father for Eppie despite the two not being biologically related.

      Re “Germinal” and “Mary Barton,” the ownership class can indeed vary in how they treat workers. But even the “nicest” owners are usually (not always) “loyal” to their own class.

      Nice that you have the same “Germinal” edition! Mine was a present from my wife about 20 years ago, and it kicked off a Zola reading binge for me. 🙂

      Last but not least, Jane Austen definitely had both strong and subtle way of depicting class differences in her novels.

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      • My copy of Zola is only a few years older than yours, and in the same way set me on reading him for some time. I still have some of the ‘Rougon-Macquart’ series to read, and fortunately I found a free complete works of Zola ebook on Amazon recently. I’m looking forward to getting stuck into it. Speaking of Jane Austen, I’ve just remembered the appallingly snobbish Mrs Elton in ‘Emma’, and Mr Elton’s horror when he realises that Emma is ‘courting’ him for the lower-class Harriet. When he snubs Harriet at the ball and she’s saved by the wonderful Mr Knightley – what a scene! Mr K is truly a gentleman, aware of class barriers but crossing them with good manners, skill and a total lack of snobbery. 🙂

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    • Hi Laura, I was also going to mention Elizabeth Gaskell’s books, at least the ones I’ve read. I agree that they are primarily about class differences and truly fascinating studies of social interactions between people of different “ranks,” for lack of a better word. I’ve read four of her novels–Mary Barton, Cranford, North and South, and Wives and Daughters–and they all deal with social hierarchy based on birth, education, and wealth, sometimes in quite subtle ways.

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      • I’ve read Cranford and North and South, although it was some time ago and I’ve forgotten a lot. Mary Barton I loved, and I have a copy somewhere, but Wives and Daughters I haven’t got to so far. I always thought Elizabeth Gaskell was hard-done by in that Charles Dickens – who didn’t live in Manchester – did far better with Hard Times (another class-based book in many ways) than she did with Mary Barton, given that she lived and worked there as a Unitarian minister’s wife. But of course, it’s always the ‘big names’ who make the splash – another social injustice. 😦 Glad to be in the company of another reader of hers. 🙂

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    • Thank you, Jennifer! Kristin Hannah never fails; “Night Road” is another very compelling novel by her. She’s amazing at depicting family relationships and friendship relationships. Hope you like the book!

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