Britain Is Essentially A Class-Conscious Society Where

According to Raymond Williams, “In a class society, all beliefs are founded on class position, and the systems of belief of all classes …” (Rice and Waugh 122). His work titled, Marxism and Literature expounded on the conflict between social classes to bridge the political ideals of Marxism with the implicit comments rendered through the text of a novel. “For the practical links,” he states “between ‘ideas’ and ‘theories’ and the ‘production of real life’ are all in this material social process of signification itself” (133). Williams asserts that a Marxist approach to literature introduces a cross-cultural universality, ensuingly adding a timeless value to text by connecting creative and artistic processes with the material products that

Another theme evident in Chesnutt’s novel concerns the class system religiously adhered to in the post-Civil War south. As the plot develops, it becomes evident that each of the major characters is contrasted with a counterpart, clearly showing which class each belonged to. An example can be found when comparing Major Carteret and Captain McBane. Major Carteret boasts a proud heritage of original plantation owners in the state. Pryor to the war, his family was quite wealthy. Despite his lack of financial resources, his name alone earns him respect in the community. He is well educated and carries himself in a dignified manner. Conversely, Captain McBane is the son of an overseer. He was representative of the lower class whites who took advantage of opportunities involving questionable politics that earned them considerable money. Having attained considerable wealth, he expected to become one of the elite. He dressed the part of the

Ann was very selfish woman who only thought of herself. This is when does not want john to go look after his father, who is old and alone. She only want john around. However her marriage is dull, and boring as john think that the best way to prove his loyalty to Ann was to work hard all day long. She ends up having sex in her matrimonial bed with the neighbor and John come to find them there. He decided to commit suicide by walking in the storm.

The first essay, “The Roles of Women in British Drama,” represents my first exposure to a new genre of literature. The essay was also one of my first formal and interpretative essays at the college level. As a woman and a student of literature, I feel a special connection to this essay’s topic of women’s roles in literature. In addition, this essay shows my “knowledge of the social, political, philosophical, and religious forces that influence authors and the people they write about” (Oral/Portfolio). After reading some of the most prominent British plays of the twentieth century, I observed a discontinuity in the roles of women in this genre. Sadly, women’s roles in literature were very similar to their role in society. During the twentieth century, women were still trying and failing to emerge out of the roles they had been cast in by a male dominated society. Even though women were almost always portrayed as inferior to men, I found a strong exception to this stereotype through the role of Thomasina. I admire Thomasina’s intelligence and wit, but I truly admire Tom Stoppard for creating this character.

This apprises the reader on how Margaret is kinda being bi-polar and how she just faked the whole thing about her being sad. By her crying, she indirectly professes that she cares about her husband but in reality she’s a brutal women who does really care about him.

The readings examined how classism has negatively affected economics in the United States, how oppression manifests in taking financial advantage of groups of people who cannot advance financially, and systemic issues contributing to low wage and inability to move out of one’s social class. I was struck by the idea that most people in the United States are disadvantaged financially based on the way the country has set up its economic policies. From the beginning, black people have been oppressed by the inability to attain wealth, which continued through the end of WWII. I unnecessarily read a chapter speaking about financial companies targeting poor people, particularly people of color, with money schemes so they are losing their hard-earned money to fees and interest rates. This scheme continues to keep people in debt and living paycheck to paycheck. I related to the reading about college loans creating a paradox that students with degrees enter the workforce unable to find a job in their their field of study. Then the added paradox of not being able to find work making

Barb blames Janice for Anne's death to hurt her and make her feel guilty, not knowing that Janice already feels guilty but does not express it. However, Barb does not think about the challenges Janice might have endured but is angry because she is not the ‘ideal Janice’ that she had been expecting. Barb is too busy and eager wanting to express her anger towards Janice that she cannot relate to Janice’s problems and the struggles that she goes through. Barb’s lack of sympathy towards the unexpected changes in Janice’s life only results in a bigger gap in their relationship. Once Barb and Janice start talking, Barb is again angered by Janice’s quietness and her unwillingness to strengthen their relationship. However, she does not make an effort herself to understand why. Barb says to Janice: “You told us the facts. I don’t know one damn thing about you, the person” (36). Barb is annoyed and frustrated by Janice keeping to herself, she cannot understand her. Barb wants a strong relationship with her as sisters. For Janice, the sister relationship is too difficult and would rather prefer being friends. However, Barb does not acknowledge or accept Janice’s different views but expects Janice to want the same. Barb misunderstands the quietness of Janice and takes it personally, thinking that she wants to keep a distance from her and does not want to open up. Barb does not think of the opposite. What if Janice can’t

Literature changed drastically between the nineteenth-century and twentieth and twenty-first century. Idealistic views that British writers once held, turned into skepticism as Great Britain enter war and inequalities grew greater. The writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries wrote realistically what was happening in the world. The Moment before the Gun Went Off by Nadine Gordimer and “The Day They Burned the Books” by Jean Rhys are both stories that show the shattering of Idealism in twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The short story, “The Storm” by Kate Chopin is about a love that could never be until it briefly was. The point that Chopin was trying to get across was that Calixta and Alcee had a strong passion for one-another, and perhaps loved each other, but they could never have been married because of their social differences. It is a passionate, but brief affair between two married people from different social classes that takes place during a cyclone in Louisiana around 1898. The story symbolizes the freedom that a woman felt inside after the rain during a time when women had no freedom. (Firtha lesson 2 page 1)

To a great extent, a comparison of Metropolis and Nineteen Eighty-Four sheds light on the idea that our universal pursuit of societal progress is built upon an enduring exploitation of the lower class for higher-class gain. However, the comparison also reveals changing attitudes towards the prospect of achieving social class unity, with pessimism being a more prevalent sentiment. Lang’s 1920 film Metropolis entails the overthrow of Frederson’s technological pursuit of an orderly society for capitalist gain, that results in hopeful class mediation. It was filmed during and reflected the interwar period of Germany’s Weimar Republic, a time of political instability following WWI, yet society was still hopeful for a better future. Orwell’s 1949

“I am still a little afraid of missing something if I forget that, as my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parceled out unequally at birth” (2). So speaks Nick in the beginning of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. This exemplifies how people born into different social classes are not born with the same character and ethics. Since people from different classes think so differently, this may cause conflicts between them and might prevent them from having substantial relationships with each other.

In “Donkeyskin,” the story sets up with the daughter of a prominent king having to escape marrying her father, disguising herself as an ugly peasant clad in a donkey skin and having to work as a peasant on a farm in order to survive. During this time, there was such a massive gap between the wealthy and lower classes that the peasantry had to survive by farming or, in dire circumstances, buying food, and that politics done by the higher class, with the exception of raising taxes, did not affect peasant life as much as it would in 1800s with the appearance of a middle class. In addition to social class reflected in this story, the king in this story reflects King Louis XIV of France in that he is thought of as a good king who wins his battles

At first glance it might appear that a study of first generation students would naturally reflect a racial relationship and race would be the “ism” that is most influential on first generation students’ university attrition. This is especially true when the focus of the study is turned toward historically black colleges and universities. Additionally, a case could be built for the racial “ism” aspect of the study by focusing on the history of HBCU and the large concentration of first generation African Americans that attend predominately Black schools. However, in developing the idea for the proposed research, the “ism” which has the most meaning and connectivity to the topic is classism.

I will describe and illustrate an informed opinion based on George Orwell. I will be investigating George Orwell’s approach to socialism. In addition, I will be discovering George Orwell’s personal experiences and views on George Orwell the road to Wigan pier. In addition, I will be investigating how life was for working class people in the 1930’s living in slums. Moreover, I will be illustrating George Orwell’s personal and professional life before writing the book ‘the Road to Wigan Pier’.

The novel Look Back in Anger was written by John Osborne, who was one of the playwrights in the Angry Young Men movement. John Osborne, born in 1929 in a middle class family, lived in a place he dubbed “a cultural wasteland”, had an execrable relationship with women and was one of those “scholarship boys” in “white-tile” universities. The Angry Young Men was a literary movement of the 1950’s whose fundamental purpose was to express their emotions –mainly anger- and protest against social stratification in a very repressed and conservative Britain. The character of Jimmy Porter is an excellent example of an Angry Young Man and very similar to the author.