Your question asks whether someone who comes from a humble background and lives within the parameters of a lower social class could live satisfied or content regardless of this limitation. It also asks whether contentment in life is achieved by having money.
Here is an excerpt from an article by Robert Kenny, published in the American Psychological Association Journal:
Extremely wealthy people have their own set of concerns: anxiety about their children, uncertainty over their relationships, and fears of isolation
What is entailed in this comment is that even people with large supplies of money can limit themselves, within their own worlds, to live unhappy lives full of worries and anxiety over things that they cannot really control. Therefore, no matter how rich they are, if they do not know how to use their resources (both monetary and non-monetary) wisely, they will end up living a life of poor quality, amidst the riches that surround them. Ultimately, it is the individual—not his funds—that determines the quality of his or her life.
People who need money, however, may disagree with this. They may find it ridiculous to think that money cannot buy happiness. It can certainly pay for utilities, mortgages, college degrees, good transportation, traveling, and better food. However, all of the above are needs that can be met with less extravagant choices and making better money decisions. In this case, money cannot buy happiness itself, but administering what we do have with cleverness can help us get what we want without complications.
The argument could be that it all depends, not on what you have, but on how much you actually need. There are people that can live happy lives without ever learning the difference between wealth or poverty, simply because they have learned how to satisfy their needs and be happy with that.
Notice that some individuals do not care about the brand of car that they drive, what company they work for, their job titles, or even the size of the place where they live. They simply need a roof over their heads, a method of transportation, food on the table, and a source of income to afford it all. All of this is possible without the need to have a lot of money. This makes a lot of people, as your question states, "content" and satisfied. Money, in this case, is one of many needs. Needs and wants are different things.
Therefore, people who live overly concerned about superficial things may be quite unhappy no matter how much money they have. The reason is that they have never needed anything and, as a result, they end up merely wanting things. They use their money and resources to fulfill a momentary caprice and, as such, they will never find anything to fully satisfy them. Once the caprice is gone, they are back to square one, wondering what to want next. This is far from happiness. This is a perpetual cycle of dissatisfaction.
In "Boule the Suif," the people in the traveling party that are wealthy are only rich in terms of material things. In contrast, they are quite poor when it comes to morals, respect for others, empathy, and even fairness. All of the characters are opportunists; they all take advantage of the kind and generous nature of Elizabeth Rousset (Boule de Suif). They eat her food, pretend to like her, and then turn their backs on her after demanding that she gives herself to the Prussian officer so that they can get to Dieppe. They are quite selfish.
She, on the other hand, a prostitute deemed to be of a "low class," is very rich in spiritual gifts: she is true to herself, kind, honest, and giving. She even abides by the demands of the passengers and ends up engaging intimately with the officer, as they tell her to do. All of this was for nothing; they betray her and treat her very badly, leaving her in total despair after she had given them so much
And Boule de Suif still wept, and sometimes a sob she could not restrain was heard in the darkness between two verses of the song
In all, happiness is a matter of wants versus needs. Keeping track of our needs helps us remain satisfied and not a lot of money is needed to meet basic needs. It is a mindset that we initiate. If we learn to meet our needs and be clever about how we use our resources, we will always feel like we have enough or even more than we actually do.
On the other hand, if we live our lives like the shallow characters of "Boule de Suif," we will find ourselves leading pretty empty lives with a very poor moral compass. Those are things that money definitely cannot make better in any way.
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