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American social classes in the 1920s
Changes in social class in America in the 1920s
American social classes in the 1920s
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In the early 1900s, the American South had very distinctive social classes: African Americans, poor white farmers, townspeople, and wealthy aristocrats. This class system is reflected in William Faulkner’s novel, As I Lay Dying, where the Bundrens a poor, white family, are on a quest to bury their now deceased wife and mother, Addie in the town of Jefferson. Taking a Marxist criticism approach to As I Lay Dying, readers notice how Faulkner’s use of characterization reveals how country folk are looked down upon by the wealthy, upper class townspeople. Marxism is an economic and social system developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels during the mid-1800s (What is Marxism). A Marxist literary criticism deals with class consciousness and ideology. …show more content…
Throughout the book, Anse is constantly complaining about not having teeth. He wants them so he can look nicer and hopefully find another wife. To get the money, Anse argues with Dewey Dell because she has money that he can use. The argument ends with Dewey Dell narrating, “He took the money and went out” (Faulkner, page 257). Anse took the money so he look fancier with teeth and impress a woman from the city. Dewey Dell also struggles with herself internally for the duration of the novel. She has sex with a man from town, Lafe, and becomes pregnant. The only support he offers her is giving her ten dollars to get an abortion, which Anse eventually takes from her. Dewey Dell is forced to try and hide her pregnancy without any help from Lafe. Vardaman too struggles with the fact of being underprivileged. He wants to purchase a toy train set from a store in town, but the family can’t afford it. He is constantly nagging about it; the train set represents wealth and prosperity, but Vardaman can’t understand why the family can’t purchase it. All of these points show the internal conflicts that the characters face throughout the novel and how their needs and wants exemplify their want to escape this lower class feeling and become more alike the
People tend to isolate women and young girls in this time especially if they had rebelled. Dewey Dell has got herself caught in a situation she does not now how to get out of. Dewey feels she has no one else to turn to because of her loneliness so she begins to turn to men. Dewey thought that the men she was surrounding herself with truly loved her and could make her feel happy and not alone. Love is a vicious force in Dewey life (Kincaid). Dewey finds herself getting farther away from humanity. Dewey does not understand the depth of love. Addie not showing her the love Dewey needs growing up makes her feel abandoned. Anse continues to use his children and Dewey does not have a true father figure she needs in her life. Dewey feels abandonment her whole life. She never has anyone to tell her right from wrong or to give her guidance. She does not expect men to treat her with respect because she never sees the respect that she deserved from
In As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner uses the characters Anse and Cash, and a motif/symbol in "My mother is a fish," to reveal the psychological and societal problems of the twenties and thirties. Written as soon as the panic surrounding the stock market in 1929 started, Faulkner is reported as having, “took one of these [onion] sheets, unscrewed the cap from his fountain pen, and wrote at the top in blue ink, 'As I Lay Dying.' Then he underlined it twice and wrote the date in the upper right-hand corner"(Atkinson 15) We must take care to recognize Faulkner not as a man of apathy, but one of great compassion and indignation at the collapse of the economic foundation of the U.S. This is central in appreciating the great care with which he describes the desolation and poor landscape of Yoknapatawpha County, which is where As I Lay Dying takes place.
In the novel, As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner tells a story of a family (the Bundrens) trying to fulfill the dying wish of a family member. The family is made up of Dewey Dell the only daughter, Vardaman the youngest, Anse the father, and Addie the dead mother. Darl and Jewel are the oldest in the family. Along with Cash who is a handy man and is seen as the normal one in the family who tries to compromise. Cash tries to keep the family together. Anse is a father that throughout the book is focused on Addie’s dying wish he puts his family at risk a lot. He has given up his children’s health, his family’s home, and crew of horses for Addie’s dying wish. Addie is the dead mother that is remembered as a loving and caring mother, but it is later
Marxism is a method of analysis based around the concepts developed by the two German philosophers Karl Marx and Fredrich Engel, centered around the complexities of social-relations and a class-based society. Together, they collaborated their theories to produce such works as The German Ideology (1846) and The Communist Manifesto (1848), and developed the terms ‘’proletariat’ and ’bourgeois’ to describe the working-class and the wealthy, segmenting the difference between their respective social classes. As a result of the apparent differences, Marxism states that proletariats and bourgeoisie are in constant class struggle, working against each other to amount in a gain for themselves.
Marxism is considered to be a radically alternative view to the development of economic, philosophical, political and sociological theories of society in comparison with other theories and theorists. Marxists tend to be more macro sociologists focussing more on wider society and the material production within this, rather than individuals within it. Craib, I (1997:36) says that with Marx comes the realisation that human beings are not the creators of society, rather than the creature and are the product of the society in which they are born into. In other words we do not create society, rather society shapes the people we are. This can be linked to the Materialist conception of History. Marxists believe that the material and historical contexts an individual lives in shape us. Although Marxists view us as subjects of social structures, we can also be agents of social change once we recognise we belong in certain social classes and are sometime constrained by them. Craib, I (1997:36) talks about how Marx developed an idea of society which was unique. He emphasised the material conditions of people’s lives and the importance of history. If our history and material context is manipulative, domineering and alienating we should engage in more politics free from restraints in order to create change. This needs to be done on the basis of class and not through individual strategies.
As I lay dying is a phenomenal novel written by William Faulkner. Throughout the entire literature Faulkner uses pathos to appeal to his audience. This was a descriptive piece of literature describing the lives of a broken family from each member’s point of view. In the story there was a no good husband, a dying wife, four sons and a daughter. The dying wife had one wish that her family had intentions of fulfilling, or so it was perceived. Each family member grieved their mother so bad but they all expressed their grief differently causing the family to be dysfunctional and disaccord. This novel was full of twist and turns but every character dealt with one conflict in common, man vs self. Man vs self, allowed Faulkner to reveal through his
Marxism is the interesting concept of society about everyone is equal. It’s sound good but in practice, it’s an ideal. When people assemble, the problems will show up and sometimes they can’t manage it. They want someone or some groups are the representative of them to decide and manage the problems. It likes they pleased to hand on their right and power to the other and the one they’ll empower, is the one they know and believe such as who have money to support their decision or who has power from many connection. Finally it will turn out to oligarchy or
William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying, and Yoknapatawpha William Faulkner, one of America’s great modernist writers, born in New Albany, Mississippi on September 25, 1897 and died on July 6, 1962. He was the author of many novels and short stories… and was even awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. One of his most famous novels written was, As I Lay Dying. Faulkner spent most of his writing life in Mississippi and set all of his fiction there. Using his literary prowess, Faulkner ultimately created an entire world out of his various novels in which he named Yoknapatawpha.
The Marxist theory “is the belief that the struggle between social classes is a major force in history and that there should eventually be a society in which there are no classes” – Karl Marx In the book “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood there are significant examples of the Marxist theory because of the way social classes are represented, how religion is manipulated in the society, and what values the text reinforces in the reader.
Marxism was created by Karl Marx and Federick Engels; they both sought out a better future for the working class. Marx, who was born in Germany in 1818 and died in London in 1883, lived in a world where he disagreed with capitalism whole heartedly. Frederick Engels was also born in Germany in 1820 and died in London in 1895. With this, they created their own philosophical and economic thought which was called Marxism. The problem with Marx was that he was always ready to change his mind about certain theories or ideas which he created. This is why it is very difficult to understand how Marxism works. Also Marxism is usually stereotyped with mainstream communism, which is why people seem to brush it off and just see it as some radical oppression machine. In Lenin’s words “the three main sources of Marxism are: British political economy, French Socialism, and German Idealist Philosophy”.
Tenant farmers in the post-Civil War South were at the bottom of the socioeconomic totem pole, and landowners were not always the most honest employers. William Faulkner outlines the frustration and struggle of one such family in his short story: “Barn Burning.” Patriarch Abner Snopes is an angry man who drags his family from one tenant farm to the next; barely scraping by. Disenchanted with the Southern system, Abner is convinced that all wealthy land owners are corrupt and unpunished. Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” addresses injustice and inequality between the social classes during the 1930’s.
Marxism is a philosophy coined by Karl Marx with the help of Friedrich Engles in the early nineteenth century. Marx’s writings inspired many progressive thinkers throughout the European continent and the United States. The Marxist doctrine stated that first a bourgeoisie revolution, which will ignite a capitalist fire. The political philosopher believed that communism could only thrive in a society distressed by “the political and economic circumstances created by a fully developed capitalism” With industry and capitalism growing a working class develops and begins to be exploited. According to Marx, the exploiting class essentially is at fault for their demise, and the exploited class eventually comes to power through the failure of capitalism:
William Faulkner’s portrayal of women, Addie Bundren specifically, in As I Lay Dying presents an interesting look into the gender politics of the south in the 1930s. Addie lies at the heart of the novel; yet despite being the heart, her presence for most of the story is as a corpse. Faulkner only gives her one chapter to explain herself; and it is her desire to be buried in Jefferson that sets in motion everything that happens in the novel. There is a profound tension at work between words and Truth her chapter: Addie ascribes no value to words, they are nothing more than dead sounds. And despite her claim that words are “quick and harmless”, she is tricked by them, and relies on them to take her revenge on Anse. While the word “sin” means nothing to Addie, she is nevertheless consumed by the idea of Sin. The fundamental problem for the reader is how to decipher a chapter of words when Addie says they are empty shapes. Addie’s nihilistic approach to language reveals her attempt to escape her subjugation as a woman: as a “woman”, Addie cannot help but fall into the traps of “wife” and “mother”, and their associated duities.
He is known worldwide for his numerous theories and ideas in regards to society, economics and politics. His outlook on these subjects is known as Marxism. Marxism focuses on the imbalance and struggle between classes and society. Marx’s theories stem from the concept of materialism based society and the implications thereof. These concepts leads to the Marxist theory of the failure of capitalism. Marx had a number of specific reasons for the downfall of capitalism yet capitalism remains very real and successful. Marxism covers a wide range of topics and theories, but an in depth analysis of his criticism to capitalism and how it is not relevant to modern day will be explored.
Marxism is found in almost every aspect of everyday life, including classic literature. Marxism in literature is defined as a type of literary criticism formulated by a focus on class struggle, socialist theories, and the idea of a cycle of proletariat oppression that leads to revolution. Throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there are many parallels that give evidence to the concept that Mark Twain wrote his novel using a Marxist approach through social, cultural, and economic aspects.