[jamesn.]

(Yes; after rereading your post I’ve modified my answer to what I thought you were saying.) I think the opposites you mention: (conflict; us vs them); and so on can be seen in many examples that art expresses. Financial inequality is a major problem often depicted in the literature of human life; as the works of these writers often portray; at least if that is what you are referring to with the metaphoric differences between rich and poor as a backdrop to their novels. If you are talking about providing meaning to something; then yes I totally agree on that. If not perhaps you can explain it another way or someone else can see what I missed.

Picking up on your James Joyce quote Joseph Campbell loved Joyce; but his writing was impossible to decipher at first so he went to Sylvia Beach for help because he could not understand it. She provided him with clues necessary as to how to deal with this. As an example noted in both the bio done on him called: “The Hero’s Journey” and also Bill Moyers: “Power of Myth”his: “Skeleton Key to Finnegan’s Wake” was something he worked on for quite awhile because many people considered it the most difficult book to read in the English language. (Having said this I tried my hand at Ulysses back 30 years ago and never finished it out of frustration.) Perhaps you’ve read either or both and if so that’s great. But I doubt most people on the street have read Ulysses since it was banned in the US because some found it offensive when it first came out; I was never really completely clear about that; (As you’ll see in a clip I provided below Joyce had to go to Beach to ask her to publish it which she did because nobody else would touch it); and Joseph mentioned he still had a few of those first original copies. Stephen or David or Michael could probably provide better background on this than I can.
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Speaking of which as an aside another interesting thing worth mentioning about these writers is an upcoming work by noted documentary film maker Ken Burns is a new project he is finishing up on “Ernest Hemingway” due to be released in the coming weeks; most likely to be shown on Public Television as they are his main sponsor.

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Addendum: I found a short clip from Perry’s documentary where Sylvia Beach talks about her shop called: “Shakespeare and Co.”; and the people who came in it along with her relationship with James Joyce and the publishing of: “Ulysses” here.