Socialist Realism in Ngugi Wa Thiongo's I Will Marry When I Want

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

The early 20th century socialist revolutionary theorists Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxembourg and Leon Trotsky believed that the withering away of the state and the removal of the capitalist mode of production was a necessary outcome if the individual was to ever realize their true nature as being free, equal and self-determining. This, however, could only be achieved through the development of the proletariat’s class consciousness and their defeat over the bourgeoisie. It is in this manner where both socialist revolutionary theory and practice share a dialectical relationship. However untied in their revolutionary visions of this international process, these theorists differ in what the role and functions of the revolutionary party should be in the historical development of the new socialist state.

Chavez then shifts to an allusion mentioning the “California Migrant Ministry” and explaining what it was like working with that union and he talks about what their thoughts were about the church. Chavez effectively places an example of polysyndeton to describe the protestants belief of the church “they had developed a very clear conception of the Church. It was called to serve, to be at the mercy of the poor, and not to try to use them”. Chavez brings up the credibility of the protestant church by stating “After a while this made a lot of sense to us, and we began to find ourselves working side by side with them”. The farm workers reflect on the fact they worked with the protestants who were

She explains Marx’s argument that capital penetrates and transforms every aspect of life (Brown, 2003, p. 19). Capital remakes everything in its image and reduces every value and activity to its cold rationale (Brown, 2003, p. 19). Essentially all is subject to the relentless submission of the state and the individual, the church and the university, morality, sex, marriage, and leisure practices to this rationale (Brown, 2003, p. 19). Thus liberal democracy especially for women has been compromised and undermined. Within the film, several women who were interviewed mentioned about the rise of union activism. Once you were unionized you were guaranteed benefits and more pay. However to ensure this cold rationale of capital as Marx stated, governmentality was achieved as one African American women, Margaret Wright, described she had gotten increased work hours making it harder for her and many other women to participate in union meetings. In the government’s eyes, unionism was equated with freedom and therefore seen as unpatriotic.

Our author’s humble beginnings forged his socialist sentiment, he grew up poor, the son of an alcoholic father in New York City, but he also made regular visits to his more wealthy grandparents who were wealthy, it is from this contrast of wealth and poverty that his political orientation began to develop as he later admitted (Simkin). In 1902, he met other writers who advised him to read the writings of Karl Marx and other socialist writers he followed the advice and became active in the socialist movement (Simkin

4. In the essay Women Workers Protest “Lowell Wage Slavery”, it mentions the poor working conditions and boring life for the women workers at Lowell Mills. The author mentions that they had to work for 13 hours each day for six days straight, and on the seventh day, they are required to go to church service, to listening to those dull sermon and unmeaningful prayers. There were also lectures provided for the young women working at the mill. Though some class are free, others requires some fee. In the mill owner’s opinion, they think they are providing benefits for the workers as they are providing education and religion services, but for the workers, it is another way of torture. What the workers’ really need is relaxing and rest, not extra

Primarily a means of escape, the oppressed black community utilizes religion throughout their lives for comfort and hope. For instance, the cotton pickers are among those who use their faith to feel worthy of staying alive. These men and women, described as having drooping minds, limp shoulders, and unyielding fatigue, spend their days laboring in the fields only to return with less cotton than needed.

Most people think religion should be spiritual, a belief in someone or something greater than the believer. Hughes believes the church has betrayed its mission by becomi ng a monetary institute. Even though Hughes is acknowledging the existence of religion he is also saying that the church had become too commercial and money oriented. This thought is exemplified in “Goodbye Christ” when Hughes writes, “Marx Communist Lenin Peasant Stalin Worker ME--“ (22). Here Hughes is saying it’s time for religion to move out and let “ME” become the profiteer. When this poem was written most of the Black race was lower class and did not have a lot of money.

I have found the realism arts to be very fascinating. The three pieces of art that I will be discussing are Francisco Goya's The Third of May, 1808 oil on canvas 8ft 9 in. x 13ft 4in, Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, 1830 oil on canvas 8 ft 6 3/8 in. x 10ft. 8 in. and Honore Daumier, Fight between Schools, Idealism and Realism, 1855 Caricature

The attitude of the elite and inequality between the classes motivates the workers to seek for equality. To begin, the elite oppress the working class in order to feel a sense of security in their own social status. Langston Hughes describes the elite’s perception of revolution, stating “He called up the police/And told’em to watch out for a guy/Named Revolution” (8-13) The elite tries to ensure that revolution will never be feasible by labelling the personification of revolution as something criminal, and manipulating the justice system to benefit them

Realism is the artistic attempt to recreate life as it is in the context of an artistic medium. It began as a revolt against the conventions of the classic view of art in the late 1800s in America and Europe in the form of an artistic movement (McConnel, R. 1997). There are many themes involved with realism that shall be discussed. These include accuracy and independence.

The artist would put themselves in the mindset of a worker similar to the men that worked in the fields and the factories. Realism soon became their focus in there works of art. William Gropper is an example of an artist he would use broken chains to show that slavery should end. His artwork showed his personal opinion on many political events. His most famous piece is called New Masses.

Realism was a huge movement in late 1800s to early 1900s. All art forms were influenced by it. Writers, artists, actors and more started taking a more simple direction and tried to depict life as it actually was. In visual art it was common to see ordinary people doing every day

Russian Avant-Garde was born at the start of the 20th century out of intellectual and cultural turmoil. Through the analysis of artworks by Aleksandr Rodchenko and El Lissitzky this essay attempts to explore the freedom experienced by artists after the Russian Revolution in 1917. This avant-garde movement was among the boldest and most advanced in Europe. It signified for many artists an end to the past academic conventions as they began to experiment with the notions of space, following the basic elements of colour, shape and line. They strove for a utopian existence for all benefited by and inspired through the art they created. They worked with, for and alongside the politics of the time. The equality for all that they sought would

One major link includes the fight between an oppressed group and their persecutors. Whether it’s the proletariat and the bourgeois in “The Communist Manifesto,” or the inequality of genders in “The Second Sex,” or the flight of the African Americans in the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. In all of these texts we are shown how easy it is for one group to abuse their power and create unfair rules and regulations only imposed on the more inferior members of society. Each group of oppressor thrives off of alienating, and subjugating their inferiors.