Handout

Marxism Basics  ·  The developing history of humanity and its ways of thinking are determined by its changing economic organization  ·  Changes in the role of production create changes in the power and advantage of social classes  ·  Marxist critics analyze literature by looking at the relation of the text to the economic and social situations of today  ·  <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Marxist critics judge a text based on its representation of social actions and class struggle <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-size: 26pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Marxist Views <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Huck Finn: The friendship of Jim and Huck thrives despite their class differences, proving that society would thrive without class systems. <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The Great Gatsby: East Egg and West Egg symbolize the drastic differences between classes and demonstrate the improbability of the income gap being decreased. <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Beowulf: Grendel steals away Hrothgar’s men just as big business steals the away the jobs of the common man. Grendel and the men must learn to be equals if they desire peace. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The Crucible: Salem’s weak economy has caused the rich and the poor to drift farther apart. The witch trials are an obvious attempt to gain the assets of the rich. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The Scarlet Letter: The economic hardships of the Puritan era are the main cause of Anne and Pearl’s struggle. The anger of the townspeople was blamed on adultery but had been initiated by the suffering economy and low salaries of the town. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Ethan frome: The hard winters foreshadow the crash of the stock market. This will eventually leads to the demise of the American economy and is symbolized by the demise of Ethan’s life. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Holes: The desolate landscape symbolizes the recession of the American economy. Each new hole represents another problem on Wall Street. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Lord of the flies: Represents the rise and fall of a perfect society. When the plane crashes, all classes have been removed and everyone is equal. However, new classes are created, sides are chosen, and the society deteriorates.