1. Do Now:
Record your questions that you have on Marxism so far.

2. Think/pair/share

3. Who are the powerful people in the text. Who are the powerless
Who are the powerful people in the text? Who are the powerless? Who receives the most attention?

4. Why do the powerful have the power? Why are the powerless, powerless?

5. Is there class conflict and struggle
Is there class conflict and struggle? What can you infer from the setting about the distribution of wealth?

6. Is there alienation and fragmentation evident in any of the characters
Is there alienation and fragmentation evident in any of the characters? If so, in whom? The powerful? The powerless?
Do the powerful in the text suppress the powerless? How? News? Media? Religion? Literature?

7. What does the society value
What does the society value? Are possessions acquired for their usefulness or their social value? Is the text itself a product of the society in which it was created? How do you know?

8. Is the work consistent in its ideologies, or is there an inner conflict? After reading this text, do you notice any system of oppression that you have accepted? If so, what system, and how do you think you came to accept it?

9. Contemplate the irony of the statement in Chapter 4 when the villagers speculate whether the pearl buyers had prearranged a ruse: “If that is so, then all of us have been cheated all of our lives.”

10. For the most part, the characters in the village of La Paz accept their station in life, rarely challenging the status quo. In what ways do you think this reflects capitalism’s ability to keep the proletariat from rising up? Who in the novel represents the proletariat? Who represents the bourgeoisie?

11. What aspects of the society in the novel does the proletariat control
What aspects of the society in the novel does the proletariat control? Over what aspects of society, if any, does the bourgeoisie maintain control?

12. Who are the powerful people in the text. Who are the powerless
Who are the powerful people in the text? Who are the powerless? Who receives the most attention? Why do the powerful in The Pearl have the power? Why are the powerless, powerless?