Marxist Reading Of The Chaser

Principles of Marxism are seen in this piece of literature through the portrayal of the Bourgeoisie, the Proletariat and characters of wealth. A negative view of the affluent is demonstrated in the text by the elder

Marxist literary criticism as defined by Peter Barry approaches a literary text through terms introduced in Karl Marx’ and Friedrich Engels’ Communist economic theory. Their jointly written text titled The Communist Manifesto called for a society with “state ownership on industry… rather than private ownership”. The social theory later became known as Marxism. As stated in Barry’s text, “The aim of Marxism is to bring about a classless society, based on the common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange” (156). One of the theory’s main aspects looks to the “exploitation of one social class by another. The result leaves one class alienated.” Central to Marxism is a belief in its ability to change the material world, which it theorizes. According to Marxist theorists, only through conflicts between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, can the status quo positively change (157).

Marxism is a critical perspective based off of the ideas of Karl Marx, with Marx’s most famous work being the Communist Manifesto. This book illustrates

As Marx’s states in his theory, when the working class becomes aware of their exploitation, this will result in a revolt lead by the proletariats. The major theories studied by Marx can be used to analyze the characters and situations presented in the film.

Marxist criticism is one of the literary lenses that are used when analyzing a work. Through this criticism, I will be able to examine The Life of Pi to understand how class differences, struggle, economics and politics influence the events that take place in the story. Marxist criticism focuses on the economic structure of society as it believes that it has an influence on everything in life and the lives of the characters are determined by social structure. It was developed by Marx and Engels after Marx perceived that human history has consisted of a series of struggles between classes. It also identifies the conflicts between classes, which the characters are part of and how the quest for wealth defines them. This idea of classes, seeking wealth and escaping political situations all take place in The Life of Pi, as Pi starts his life in India living an upper-middle-class lifestyle then losing everything and having to work his way up again to regain his wealth in a new country.

▪ Marxism – fundamentally anchored on the work of Karl Marx, Marxism is a dominant critical theory born in the middle of the 19th century and flourished tremendously throughout the twentieth century. Marxism identifies social and economic factors as crucial denominators of relationship in society. This short story has very strong social problems. The people of the Marxist time are afraid of new technologies

A Marxist lens is strong lens to analyze Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness. Marxism is the belief that there is a conflict between the ruling class and working class, the crux of this conflict is the working struggle for economic power while the ruling class believes in the profit of capitalism but the power of Marxism. Throughout the Heart of Darkness Marxism influences all aspect of society, laws, economic base, and exploitation.

According to Karl Marx, a famous German philosopher, came up with the theory that the higher class, known as the bourgeoisie, enslaved and exploit the working class, known as proletariat. This theory relates to the two novels A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and Legend by Marie Lu. There are many similarities that take place between these dystopian novels and it is evident that everything is predetermined and controlled by the state, causing conflict and chaos. This is demonstrated by the caste system, abuse of drugs and power within the government.

For the Marxist critic, literature is in of itself a social institution, with a particular ideological function based on the experience and beliefs of the author, and a material product to be comprehended in broadly historical terms, emphasizing class and ideology as they are illustrated, distribute, and contest the social order of the period in which it was written. Terry Eagleton, in his book Marxism and Literary Criticism, describes Marxist application to literature

John Collier’s ‘The Chaser’, a short story that follows Alan Austen, a character who shows typically feminine or androgynous traits, displaying Alan being timid, easily manipulated, cowardly, and inevitably, the harbinger of his own destruction. ‘The Chaser’ features Alan seeking out an old man for a love potion to make Diana fall in love with him. From a sophisticated gender perspective, ‘the Chaser’ is shown to be patriarchal to start, with androgynous areas that end with the story being heavily androgynous. Based on text in the story and underlying themes, ‘The Chaser’ is Feminine and Androgynous, and Austen displays Feminine androgynous traits heavily by the end of the story.

Writer Ngozi Adichie says a feminist is a “person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes,” meaning both sexes are treated equally. “Cinderella” does not portray women as equal to men, rather it suggests that a woman’s value highly depends on a man and teaches girls to become patient victims. For instance, it places attention on a woman’s chastity, beauty, passiveness, as the story accepts abuse, discourages powerful women, and insists on a double standard.

Derived from opinions and views of the Father of Communism and adapted to fit literature both modern and classic, the Marxist lens is a particular way to view literature in relation to a powerful bourgeoisie that abuses a less powerful or economically prevalent proletariat. Upon viewing a text through this lens, common themes such as said abusement and commonly struggles for power become commonplace. Through these lens, one can view Shakespeare’s Hamlet and find social classes set in the book and desires for power within and between them. While viewing Hamlet through the Marxist lens, one could identify the tragedy as a struggle for power and a lesson on retaliation and violence overall.

Kate Chopin was a feminist in times when feminism itself only began capturing minds all over the world. She wrote a short story that can now be a hymn for this fashionable movement. She imagines a world without men, instead of openly blaming them for her unhappiness. This is a world of freedom, bright future, unclouded skies and open windows. And “she saw … a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome” (Chopin 2). This is certainly a point of view that was highly accused back then, but it can be accepted even with a bit of a humour nowadays.

“Whoever controls the means of production in society controls the society.” (Martin) Marxism can be used to explain and inspect actions, characters, settings, and ideas in a multitude of texts. In the novel The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini, the Marxist views on the class system, religion, and the ownership of goods are prominent and introduce an interesting and captivating perspective to the story.

Johannes Hans Bertens identifies a description of Marxism in his work “Literary Theory: The Basics”, by inferring the idea of choice within our world is in fact an illusion and that we are much more limited by circumstance than we care to admit. He further eludes that, as we disillusion ourselves with false potential, then we ourselves are alienated from the world in which we live. This is evident within the novel when Nick states, “life is much more successfully looked at from a single window, after all”. The metaphor suggests naivety and arrogance within society, reminiscent of Bertens feelings, whilst further raising light to the fact that much of the