Marxist Criticism By: John Gabrys, Jake Clauss, Joe Alfrano, McKinnon, and Shane Monahan

Who was Karl Marx? Karl Marx was an 19 th century philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian and journalist. However he is most famously recalled as being the man who sparked the socialist movement. As an author his most famous book was The Communist Manifesto, in which he stated the flaws of a capitalist society and explained an approach to fixing the class struggle that many people faced in his time.

Marxist Criticism Marxist criticism is the idea that all authors express their social/financial ideas through their works. Ex: If an author who happened to be a neglected peasant wrote a book it would be unordinary for him to portray the upper class in a positive light. This idea also suggests that a literary work is produced through an authors social/financial background; not because of artistic abilities.

Marxist Criticism To many Marxists, literary works are not works of art but products To Marxists the readers are also just consumers. Many Marxists also believe in the idea of Base and Superstructure This idea resembles the structure of a tower. There is a structure and a base which it is built upon. The base of the tower is the economic system of the country. (Capitalism, communism, fascism, etc…) The structure of the building is what the people make of it. (Art, music, literature, etc…) However, what the people make is entirely based upon their economic system and class.

Marxist Criticism Marxist critics will resent many authors who agree with upper class ideas while praising most authors who pity/agree with struggling lower class citizens. According to a Marxist critic most literature is much like propaganda. It puts the authors writing into words and spreads the views to the audience. This can lead to many people adapting an idea and spreading rapidly

Marxist Critics A Marxist critic would be someone who agrees with the ideas of Marxism and Marxist criticism Evaluation of a Marxist Critic Who is the story about? What is his/her social class? Who is the author? What is his/her social class? Do the characters represent any social classes? Is there a conflict between classes/characters? Who was the audience?