It often happens that the reader experiences some sort of uneasy fear along with the longing of going deeper in the text and reading between the lines. This uneasiness comes from the desire to avoid seeing more in the work than the author designed originally. However, literary criticism allows to appreciate literary works beyond just admiration of the form and the elements of sense which lie on the surface. A mindful approach to a literary text allows to go beyond the obvious and uncover sometimes small, but usually very specific elements. These elements add up considerably to the overall understanding of the text. In this essay, I will focus on one of the approaches in the literary criticism which proved to be quite applicable and engaging in my reader's experience.
In order to understand properly how Marxist Criticism approaches literary texts, it is imperative to grasp the overall theory which guides the literarycriticism inquiry within this framework. Marxism focuses mainly on labor relations between various social classes and the competition between them in terms of owning the material means of production For Marxists, “economic and social conditions determine religious beliefs, legal systems and cultural frameworks” (Holcombe). In other words, social relationships and culture are greatly influenced by the ways material goods are distributed.
Marxist Criticism is the most attractive approach in literary criticism for me because it is very handy in understanding deeply the social relationship between people, especially in case they belong to different social classes, and the influence which a person's characteristics like parents' background, profession and level of income have on how others see and treat him or her. Marxist Criticism becomes especially handy when dealing with the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. From the very beginning, the reader gets to notice the emphasis on the professional occupation of the main character, William Loman, specified in the title. Thus, the author shows that the most salient characteristic of the main character is his professional occupation, which brings about more connotations considering that it is not considered prestigious in the social hierarchy. Following this line of thinking while proceeding which the text of the play reveals even more interesting details in this regard. Biff, the eldest son of the main character, is urged to satisfy his father by choosing the appropriate occupation: William is irritated with Biff's working as a farmhand at the age of thirty-four because he considers this kind of occupation ill-suited for a man of this age. The implication of this irritation is quite clear in the Marxist perspective: instead of owning the means of production and exploiting others, Biff goes very far down the implied social ladder and is exploited himself. Death of a Salesman offers several examples allowing to plunge into the social critique based on the Marxist approach.
One can say that literature is a mirror where the reality is reflected with some features accentuated and some in a dim light. Some items bring into the open and dissect the complexity of social relationships between people. Marxist Criticism allows to dissect the far-reaching implications of social relationships based on distribution of the material goods. No matter how dear is the spiritual, one should be aware of the fact that the material is very powerful in determining the quality of social relationships.
Works Cited
Holcombe, John C. “Marxist Views”. TextEtc. Web.
http://www.textetc.com/theory/marxist-views.html
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc, 1998. Print.
