Poverty

Poverty in Las Vegas is not a temporary setback for Theodore Decker and Boris Pavlikovsky but a grinding, inescapable reality that defines their existence. Stripped of adult supervision, reliable income, and basic social infrastructure, the two teenagers inhabit a world of abandoned houses, empty refrigerators, and constant improvisation. Their poverty is not merely economic; it is a condition of profound isolation and neglect that forces them into a marginal, scavenging existence on the fringes of a city built on spectacle and wealth.

The Geography of Abandonment

The physical landscape of their poverty is the unfinished, foreclosed periphery of Las Vegas. Boris lives in a house at the farthest edge of Canyon Shadows, where "the desert is taking it back" and most houses look "as if they had never been lived in" (E02231-E02232). The streets are awash with sand, and the only other resident on their block is a woman Boris speculates might be an illegal immigrant or drug dealer (E02241-E02243). Theodore's own house, though larger, is equally barren: "Bone-white walls," a "sofa like something from a hospital waiting room," and a "wall of built-in shelves, mostly empty" . This environment of half-built, half-abandoned structures mirrors their own incomplete, neglected lives. The isolation is so extreme that at night "complete darkness reigned on the street," and the only way to dispose of trash is to sneak it into the dumpster of an abandoned house a few doors down (E02135-E02136).

Hunger and Scavenging

Chronic hunger is a defining feature of their poverty. Boris's diet often consists of "bread and sugar" , and he recalls a day when he ate only "Two Nestlé bars and a Pepsi" . To survive, they resort to systematic shoplifting. Boris, wearing a grim Eastern Bloc raincoat with a cutaway lining, steals steaks, butter, tea, cucumbers, and even cough syrup from a supermarket, while Theodore acts as lookout and then brazenly buys bread and milk at the counter (E02328-E02329). The stolen food is cooked by Theodore, who learned basic meals at a day camp, and they eat together almost every night, often with vodka as a post-dinner ritual . This shared act of theft and cooking forges a deep bond, but it is a bond born of necessity, not choice.

The Absence of Social Safety Nets

The boys' poverty is compounded by a complete lack of functional adult support. Theodore's father is a gambling addict who leaves him alone for days, and Xandra, his father's girlfriend, is indifferent at best. Boris's father is a violent alcoholic who beats him and leaves him alone for weeks at a time (E02410-E02411, E02431). There is no reliable source of money, no one to ensure they attend school, and no one to feed them. The Barbour apartment on Park Avenue, with its "glazed chintz and Chinese jars" and staff of eight, stands in stark contrast to this world of neglect . Theodore, who once lived in that world of wealth, is acutely aware of the gulf. When he sees the Barbours' furniture, he notes it is "more like those scenes with the taxidermy animals at the Natural History Museum"—a dead, curated display, utterly alien to the raw, desperate life he now leads .

The Cost of Survival

This life of poverty takes a severe physical and psychological toll. Their diet of stolen food and candy leads to vitamin deficiencies, and the school nurse gives them painful shots and "a colorful jar of children's chewables" (E02827-E02828). Theodore's teeth rot from all the candy . The constant stress of survival, combined with their drug and alcohol abuse, creates a state of permanent, low-grade crisis. Yet, within this desperate existence, there is a strange, dark freedom. They are accountable to no one. They can lie in bed all morning, watch five Robert Mitchum movies in a row, and roam the desert at night . This freedom, however, is the freedom of the abandoned, a liberty that comes not from choice but from the complete collapse of any structure of care. It is a poverty that is not just about money, but about the absence of a world that wants them in it.