Marxist Ryan Elana Timmy

Marxist Criticisim “A type of criticism in which literary works are viewed as the product of work they reflect, propagate, and even challenge the prevailing social order.” In more simple terms, this is reading a piece of literary work while looking at it from a political point of view.

Background Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, wrote a book called The Communist Manifesto He believed that one day the working class would uprise against the hierarchy and create a new, classless society. His prediction was proven when the Russian Revolution occurred.

Pros + Cons Marxism shows not what the text says but what it hides. Takes in account class and society when read. The information only applies to the time period it was intended for and not a universal piece of writing. You must take a historical apporoach in order to understand allusions in their proper classical, political, and biblical background.

Poem Connection of Identity Card Marxism is about the different societal classes and in this poem the narrator is a working class man. The man feels like he is not a human but the number on his identity card. He is nothing but a simple laborer, what Karl Marx said would be the revolting class in his book.

Works Cited http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetr y/critical_define/crit_marx.html http://www.lawrence.edu/dept/english/courses /60a/marxist.html http://mesastate.edu/~blaga/Theory/Class.html http://www1.assumption.edu/users/ady/HHGat eway/Gateway/Marxistlitcrit.html http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm#marx http://systocracy.com/blog7/2008/09/