The Marxist theory is an extrinsic approach to literature
that allows us to be aware of Historical contexts. I took the example of Araby, a short
story written by James Joyceto illustrate a possible Marxist approach of his
work.
The first thing to consider in a Marxist analysis is
to distinguish between the powerful and the powerless characters. In Araby, the young
lady and the two gentlemen are characters who seem to maintain power because they are
English. We know that at the time, England was an oppressive state par rapport to
Ireland.
A Marxist analysis also presupposes the existence
of class struggle in literary texts. However, in Araby there is no evidence of conflict
among people from different social classes, except for the characters at the bazaar, the
story only involves Irish characters.
Alienation is also an
important term in this kind of analysis. Alienation refers to any form of escapism
that camouflages harsh realities. In Araby, we may say that the Catholic Church, being
a superstructure, exerts its power over people in Ireland. Otherwise, the Bazaar clearly
contributes to another form of escapism.
We can
also detect which social class the narrator belongs by examining the setting. In this
case, the imagery in the opening paragraph makes us to envisage a low middle class
neighborhood.
Now, for the bazaar we see that the
narrator’s attitude towards the bazaar changes from euphoria to disappointment. We may
risk and say that this change of mood implies the author’s negative critic of the
British Imperialism.
Next we shall consider some
more generalized questions. For example, we may try to find out the values of the
author’s time and place. Likewise, we may analyse the socioeconomic conditions of the
writer's time. Finally, we may consider James Joyce's biographical in order to
identify his ideology.
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