College American Literature
1. Post-Colonialism
1. Post-Colonialism

Typical Questions Asked:
1. Post-Colonialism

Typical Questions Asked:
 How does the text, explicitly or allegorically,
represent different aspects of colonialism?
1. Post-Colonialism

Typical Questions Asked:
 How does the text, explicitly or allegorically,
represent different aspects of colonialism?
 What person/group does the work identify
with “other” or “stranger”? How are they
described and treated?
1. Post-Colonialism

Typical Questions Asked:
 How does the text, explicitly or allegorically,
represent different aspects of colonialism?
 What person/group does the work identify
with “other” or “stranger”? How are they
described and treated?
 What does the text reveal about the politics
or psychology of anti-colonial resistance?
1. Post-Colonialism

Typical Questions Asked:
 How does the text, explicitly or allegorically,
represent different aspects of colonialism?
 What person/group does the work identify
with “other” or “stranger”? How are they
described and treated?
 What does the text reveal about the politics
or psychology of anti-colonial resistance?
1. Post-Colonialism

Typical Questions Asked (cont’d):
 What does the text reveal about the
operations of cultural difference in shaping
our perceptions of ourselves, others, and the
world?
○ Examples: ways in which race, religion, class,
gender, sexual orientation, cultural beliefs,
and customs combine to form identify
1. Post-Colonialism

Typical Questions Asked (cont’d):
 How does the text respond to or comment
upon the characters, themes, or
assumptions or a canonized (colonialist)
work?
1. Post-Colonialism

Facets
1. Post-Colonialism

Facets
 Post-colonial critics are concerned
w/literature produced by colonial powers and
works produced by those who were
colonized.
1. Post-Colonialism

Facets
 Post-colonial critics are concerned
w/literature produced by colonial powers and
works produced by those who were
colonized.
 Looks at issues of power, economics,
politics, religion, and culture – and how
these elements work in relation to colonial
hegemony
○ Ie – western colonizers controlling the
colonized
1. Post-Colonialism
Facets
 A critic might be interested in works
looking at a colonialist attitude

 Ex: how robinson crusoe is shipwrecked and
examinations towards the black man he
“colonizes” and names “Friday”.
1. Post-Colonialism

Facets
 What is the role of western literary canon
and what colonial aspects are expressed?
1. Post-Colonialism

Who’s in charge and why?
1. Post-Colonialism

Who’s in charge and why?
 Look for issues on slavery, colonialist views
on “taming the savage land/peoples”
1. Post-Colonialism

Who’s in charge and why?
 Look for issues on slavery, colonialist views
on “taming the savage land/peoples”
○ Ask yourself: how are the people native to a
land CHANGED, REPRESSED, or
ELIMINATED in the process of colonization
1. Post-Colonialism

Who’s in charge and why?
 Look for issues on slavery, colonialist views
on “taming the savage land/peoples”
○ Ask yourself: how are the people native to a
land CHANGED, REPRESSED, or
ELIMINATED in the process of colonization
○ Post-colonialism DEMANDS you understand
and dissect how the dominating power (the
“victor) looks down on, and seeks to change,
the repressed people.
1. Post-Colonialism

Caveats:
1. Post-Colonialism

Caveats:
 While the theory depends upon the idea that
“history is written by the victors”, it does
NOT depend upon finding accusations of
racism.
1. Post-Colonialism

Caveats:
 While the theory depends upon the idea that
“history is written by the victors”, it does
NOT depend upon finding accusations of
racism.
 Think like this: the terms “first/second/third
world” are terms constructed by those in
power to describe themselves and others.
They are, by nature, a reinforcement that the
western world is the dominant power
1. Post-Colonialism

Caveats:
 While the theory depends upon the idea that
“history is written by the victors”, it does NOT
depend upon finding accusations of racism.
 Think like this: the terms “first/second/third
world” are terms constructed by those in power
to describe themselves and others. They are,
by nature, a reinforcement that the western
world is the dominant power
 It is NOT a condemnation of any party,
oppresser or oppressed.
2. Reader Response
2. Reader Response

Questions asked:
2. Reader Response

Questions asked:
 How does the interaction of text and reader
create meaning?
2. Reader Response

Questions asked:
 How does the interaction of text and reader
create meaning?
 How do the sounds/shapes of the words as
they appear on the page or are read out
loud effect meaning?
2. Reader Response

Questions asked:
 How does the interaction of text and reader
create meaning?
 How do the sounds/shapes of the words as
they appear on the page or are read out
loud effect meaning?
 How do the reader’s life experiences, and
understanding of the world, alter or effect the
meaning of the text?
2. Reader Response

Questions asked:
 How does the interaction of text and reader
create meaning?
 How do the sounds/shapes of the words as they
appear on the page or are read out loud effect
meaning?
 How do the reader’s life experiences, and
understanding of the world, alter or effect the
meaning of the text?
 What does the text SUGGEST about the critics
who first interpreted and/or the reading
experience produced by that text?
2. Reader Response

Facets:
2. Reader Response

Facets:
 Reader Response is a criticism that
considers reader reaction to literature is vital
to gaining meaning.
2. Reader Response

Facets:
 Reader Response is a criticism that
considers reader reaction to literature is vital
to gaining meaning.
 It can take many different forms, and the
criticism can use a variety of different lenses
in interpretation.
2. Reader Response

Facets:
 Reader Response is a criticism that
considers reader reaction to literature is vital
to gaining meaning.
 It can take many different forms, and the
criticism can use a variety of different lenses
in interpretation.
 However you look: the reader cannot be
omitted from understanding, and readers do
NOT passively consume a meaning
presented in a text.
2. Reader Response

Caveats:
2. Reader Response

Caveats:
 “Reader Response” is often misdiagnosed
as a method to dismiss text because they
don’t fit with a personal world-view.
This…is…inaccurate.
2. Reader Response

Caveats:
 “Reader Response” is often misdiagnosed
as a method to dismiss text because they
don’t fit with a personal world-view.
This…is…inaccurate.
 RR does not give ammunition to dismiss
because you disagree with the text. It,
instead, gives you a method to understand
WHY your biases may exist, as well as
uncovering biases within a text.
3. Feminist

Questions Asked:
3. Feminist

Questions Asked:
 How is the relationship between men and
women portrayed?
3. Feminist

Questions Asked:
 How is the relationship between men and
women portrayed?
 What are the power relationships between
men and women?
3. Feminist

Questions Asked:
 How is the relationship between men and
women portrayed?
 What are the power relationships between
men and women?
 How are male/female roles defined; what
constitutes masculinity/femininity?
3. Feminist

Questions Asked:
 How is the relationship between men and
women portrayed?
 What are the power relationships between
men and women?
 How are male/female roles defined; what
constitutes masculinity/femininity?
 How do the characters EMBODY or DEFY
these traits?
3. Feminist

Questions Asked:
 How is the relationship between men and
women portrayed?
 What are the power relationships between
men and women?
 How are male/female roles defined; what
constitutes masculinity/femininity?
 How do the characters EMBODY or DEFY
these traits?
3. Feminist

Questions Asked:
 Do characters take on traits from opposite
genders? How? How does this change
others’ reactions to them?
3. Feminist

Questions Asked:
 Do characters take on traits from opposite
genders? How? How does this change
others’ reactions to them?
 What does this work reveal about the
operations (economics, politics, society,
psychology) of patriarchy?
3. Feminist

Questions Asked:
 Do characters take on traits from opposite
genders? How? How does this change
others’ reactions to them?
 What does this work reveal about the
operations (economics, politics, society,
psychology) of patriarchy?
 What does the work imply about the
possibilitties of sisterhood as a mode of
resisting patriarchy?
3. Feminist

Questions Asked:
 What does the work say about women’s
creativity?
3. Feminist

Questions Asked:
 What does the work say about women’s
creativity?
 What does the history of the work’s
reception by the public and by the critics tell
us about the operation of patriarchy?
3. Feminist

Questions Asked:
 What does the work say about women’s
creativity?
 What does the history of the work’s
reception by the public and by the critics tell
us about the operation of patriarchy?
 What role does the work play in terms of
women’s literary history and literary
tradition?
3. Feminist

Translation:
3. Feminist

Translation:
 The FUN part of Feminist criticism is that
there are SO MANY ways to understand it.
A feminist critic asks a variety of questions
about him/herself, the world around us, and
the characters in a text, in order to
understand how a text supports or defies the
patriarchal society.
3. Feminist

Translation:
 The key point to remember: feminist criticism
assumes that we live in a patriarchy – a
system of government/society run by male
powers. Either intentionally or
unintentionally, our world is built around the
idea of feminine ideas being secondary.
3. Feminist

Facets:
3. Feminist

Facets:
 This criticism is concerned with all of the
ways in which literature/media reinforces or
undermines economic, political, social, and
psychological oppression of
women/feminine traits.
3. Feminist

Facets:
 This criticism is concerned with all of the
ways in which literature/media reinforces or
undermines economic, political, social, and
psychological oppression of
women/feminine traits…
 How aspects of culture are patriarchal
(male-dominated)…
3. Feminist

Facets:
 This criticism is concerned with all of the
ways in which literature/media reinforces or
undermines economic, political, social, and
psychological oppression of
women/feminine traits…
 How aspects of culture are patriarchal
(male-dominated)…
 And strives to expose explicit/implicit
mysogyny in male writing.
3. Feminist

Facets:
 “Mysogyny” can translate into many areas.
Example: anti-depressants are marketed to
women, while antacids are marketed
towards men.
3. Feminist

Facets:
 “Mysogyny” can translate into many areas.
Example: anti-depressants are marketed to
women, while antacids are marketed
towards men.
○ Both are prescribed to both groups equally,
but clinical trials are often exclusively tested
on men.
3. Feminist

Facets:
 Feminist criticism also looks closely at the
traditional canon – looking at the
exclusion/marginalization of women writers.
3. Feminist

Facets:
 Feminist criticism also looks closely at the
traditional canon – looking at the
exclusion/marginalization of women writers.
○ Even today, unless the woman is marketed as
a “feminist writer”, there is a huge tendency to
under-represent the contributions of female
writers.
3. Feminist

Basic Traits:
3. Feminist

Basic Traits:
 While the lens is broad with a LARGE
variety of uses, these are the basic ideas in
common:
3. Feminist

Basic Traits:
○ Women, and feminine traits, interests, and
ideals, are oppressed by patriarchy
economically, politically, socially, and
psychologically; “patriarchal ideology is the
primary means by which they are kept so.
3. Feminist

Basic Traits:
○ Women, and feminine traits, interests, and
ideals, are oppressed by patriarchy
economically, politically, socially, and
psychologically; “patriarchal ideology is the
primary means by which they are kept so.
○ In every domain where patriarchy is the norm,
woman is “other” – marginalized, defined only
be differences from male norms and values.
3. Feminist

Basic Traits:
○ ALL of western (anglo-euro) civilization is
deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology…for
example, in the biblical portrayal Eve is the
origin of sin and death in the world.
3. Feminist

Basic Traits:
○ ALL of western (anglo-euro) civilization is
deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology…for
example, in the biblical portrayal Eve is the
origin of sin and death in the world.
○ While biology determines sex (male/female),
CULTURE determines gender
values/identities (masculine/feminine)
3. Feminist

Basic Traits:
○ ALL of western (anglo-euro) civilization is
deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology…for
example, in the biblical portrayal Eve is the
origin of sin and death in the world.
○ While biology determines sex (male/female),
CULTURE determines gender
values/identities (masculine/feminine)
○ ALL feminist activity, including theory and
criticism, has as its ultimate goal to change
the world by prompting gender equality.
3. Feminist

Basic Traits:
○ Gender issues play a part in every aspect of
human production and experience, including
the production and experience of literature,
whether we are consciously aware of these
issues or not.
3. Feminist

Caveats:
3. Feminist

Caveats:
Feminist Critique does NOT equate
gender-bashing.
3. Feminist

Caveats:
Feminist Critique does NOT equate
gender-bashing.
 It is, however, multi-faceted, dealing with
three waves of feminism:
3. Feminist

Caveats:
Feminist Critique does NOT equate
gender-bashing.
 It is, however, multi-faceted, dealing with
three waves of feminism:
○ 1st –late 1700’s-early 1900’s – writers like
Mary Wollstonecraft highlight inequalities of
rights between the sexes. Activists like Susan
B. Anthony and Victoria Woodhull contribute
to women’s suffrage.
3. Feminist

Caveats:
2nd Wave: early 1960’s-late 1970’s –
building on more equal working
conditions during ww2, movements such
as NOW, formed in 1966, cohere
feminist political activism. This is the
GROUNDWORK for feminist theories
dovetailed into the American Civil Rights
Movement, as well as Feminist theory
as a literary criticism.
3. Feminist

Caveats:
3rd Wave: Early 1990’s-present –
resisting the perceived essentialist (overgeneralized, over-simplified) ideologies and
a white, heterosexual, middle class focus
of previous forms of feminism, 3rd wave
works to expand on marginalized
populations’ experiences. It becomes
much more focuses on a promotion of
dialogue, community, and the valorization
of the work women perform, as well as
cultural contributions.
4. Marxist
4. Marxist

Before we start:
4. Marxist

Before we start:
 Marxism does NOT equal Communism.
Forget any silly black/white “COMMUNISM
IS BAD, MM-KAY?” rhetoric you might have
heard. Not only is such a statement
WOEFULLY inadequate, but it also
references a completely different idea from
what we’re looking at here.
4. Marxist

Before we start:
 Marxist theory does NOT mean “espousing
a political system based on Marxism”. While
the ideas we’re looking for in a Marxist lens
are based on the ideas presented by Karl
Marx, what we are looking at/for is similar to
other lenses – dynamics of control and
power.
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
 What is the social class of the author?
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
 What is the social class of the author?
○ How does the author show his/her values
through the text?
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
 What is the social class of the author?
○ How does the author show his/her values
through the text?

EXAMPLE: In “The Crucible”, If John
Proctor is meant to be the “every man”
character we all identify with, how does
this show the “working man” and his fate
against the ruling class (Puritans)?
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
 What is the social class of the author?
 What values does the text reinforce?
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
 What is the social class of the author?
 What values does the text reinforce?
○ Consider pg. 157 (Jefferson’s Declaration of
Independence).
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
 What is the social class of the author?
 What values does the text reinforce?
○ Consider pg. 157 (Jefferson’s Declaration of
Independence).
 Chart the laws Jefferson states Britain has
REFUSED to pass – do these laws benefit business
owners, or the common man?
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
 What is the social class of the author?
 What values does the text reinforce?
○ Consider pg. 157 (Jefferson’s Declaration of
Independence).
 Chart the laws Jefferson states Britain has
REFUSED to pass – do these laws benefit business
owners, or the common man?
 Look at pg. 158 – in what way does Jefferson define
a leader?
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
 What is the social class of the author?
 What values does the text reinforce?
 What values does the text subvert?
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
 What is the social class of the author?
 What values does the text reinforce?
 What values does the text subvert?
○ Look to Act IV of “The Crucible” – how does
Hale’s status as an authority of the ruling
class (the bourgeois in Marxist terms) affect
those who seek to enforce execution on those
accused?
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
 What is the social class of the author?
 What values does the text reinforce?
 What values does the text subvert?
 What conflict(s) can be seen between the
values the work champions and those it
portrays?
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
 What is the social class of the author?
 What values does the text reinforce?
 What values does the text subvert?
 What conflict(s) can be seen between the
values the work champions and those it
portrays?
○ Consider Franklin’s aphorisms (pg. 141) and
discuss the loaded assumptions made on the
working class vs. aristocratic class.
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:




What is the social class of the author?
What values does the text reinforce?
What values does the text subvert?
What conflict(s) can be seen between the values
the work champions and those it portrays?
○ Consider Franklin’s aphorisms (pg. 141) and
discuss the loaded assumptions made on the
working class vs. aristocratic class.
○ Consider Franklin’s model day (pg. 143) – in what
way does leisure (6-9pm) assume a level of
financial comfort?
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
 What is the social class of the author?
 What values does the text reinforce?
 What values does the text subvert?
 What conflict(s) can be seen between the
values the work champions and those it
portrays?
 What social classes do the characters
represent?
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
 What is the social class of the author?
 What values does the text reinforce?
 What values does the text subvert?
 What conflict(s) can be seen between the values
the work champions and those it portrays?
 What social classes do the characters
represent?
○ Discussion: how feasible is the “moral perfection”
ideal that Franklin demonstrates (pg. 140) to the
average person?
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
 What is the social class of the author?
 What values does the text reinforce?
 What values does the text subvert?
 What conflict(s) can be seen between the values
the work champions and those it portrays?
 What social classes do the characters
represent?
 How do characters from different classes
interact or conflict?
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:




What is the social class of the author?
What values does the text reinforce?
What values does the text subvert?
What conflict(s) can be seen between the values the
work champions and those it portrays?
 What social classes do the characters represent?
 How do characters from different classes interact or
conflict?
○ Paine (pg. 161) argues that tyranny is to “bind us in all
cases whatsoever”. How is his argument a double
standard when taken with the idea of slavery at the
time?
4. Marxist

Questions Asked:
 How do different classes clash, and to what
degree does hardship/reward agree with
social class?
4. Marxist

Facets:
4. Marxist

Facets:
 The literary theory is based on Karl Marx,
and influenced by the works of philosophers
such as Georg Hegel – this school of
thinking concerns itself with:
4. Marxist

Facets:
 The literary theory is based on Karl Marx,
and influenced by the works of philosophers
such as Georg Hegel – this school of
thinking concerns itself with:
○ Class differences
4. Marxist

Facets:
 The literary theory is based on Karl Marx,
and influenced by the works of philosophers
such as Georg Hegel – this school of
thinking concerns itself with:
○ Class differences
Economic differences
4. Marxist

Facets:
 The literary theory is based on Karl Marx,
and influenced by the works of philosophers
such as Georg Hegel – this school of
thinking concerns itself with:
○ Class differences
Economic differences
○ The implications/complications of a capitalist
system.
4. Marxist

Facets:
 “Marxism attempts to reveal the ways in
which our socioeconomic system is the
ULTIMATE source of our experience.” Tyson
4. Marxist

Facets:
 “Marxism attempts to reveal the ways in
which our socioeconomic system is the
ULTIMATE source of our experience.” –
Tyson
 Marxist theorists, therefore, are interested in
answering the overarching question:
○ Whom does it (the work, the effort, the policy,
the road, the country, et al) benefit?
4. Marxist

Facets:
 “Marxism attempts to reveal the ways in
which our socioeconomic system is the
ULTIMATE source of our experience.” –
Tyson
 Marxist theorists, therefore, are interested in
answering the overarching question:
○ Whom does it (the work, the effort, the policy,
the road, the country, et al) benefit?
○ The elite? The Middle Class?
4. Marxist

Facets:
 The Marxist critic is interested, primarily, in
how the lower/working classes are
OPPRESSED in every day life and in
literature.
○ This CAN be, remember, done through force,
propaganda, or omission.
4. Marxist

Discussion:
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 Consider the standards of a “proper life”
espoused by Franklin – in what ways do we
see his struggles as unrealistic to the
common man?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 Consider the standards of a “proper life”
espoused by Franklin – in what ways do we
see his struggles as unrealistic to the
common man?
○ Reader Response/Marxist bonus – consider: if
we, as the common people, see this as the
popular belief of perfection…can we become
perfect unless we are born wealthy???
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 More optimistically…consider Franklin’s
advocating of a strong moral life as an
“equalizer” – how does this SUGGEST a
method for all men to be truly equal in an
American society?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 Look to Franklin’s Axe anecdote (pg.
145)…in what ways does Franklin seek to
turn his privileged upbringing/background
(printer journeyman – business owner)
towards a more working class background?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 Look to Franklin’s Axe anecdote (pg.
145)…in what ways does Franklin seek to
turn his privileged upbringing/background
(printer journeyman – business owner)
towards a more working class background?
○ The Optimist: How does this anecdote
suggest a “common link” of struggles and
knowledge common to those in ALL strata of
society?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 Look to Franklin’s aphorisms (pg. 147): your
text notes that they are updated adaptations
of traditional proverbs.
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 Look to Franklin’s aphorisms (pg. 147): your
text notes that they are updated adaptations
of traditional proverbs.
○ I ask you this: what purpose is served by
selling them?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 Look to Franklin’s aphorisms (pg. 147): your
text notes that they are updated adaptations
of traditional proverbs.
○ I ask you this: what purpose is served by
selling them?
 Where can we spot a business owner making a
buck?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 Look to Franklin’s aphorisms (pg. 147): your
text notes that they are updated adaptations
of traditional proverbs.
○ The optimist in you will ask this: how do these
aphorisms show a “universality”, free of classlabels?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 “…that all men are created equal; that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights; that among these are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (pg.
156)
○ How does this support the belief structure of
the upper class in the colonies?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 “…that all men are created equal; that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights; that among these are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (pg.
156)
○ How does this support the belief structure of
the upper class in the colonies?
 How is repetition used throughout the Declaration to
support a “right to free business”?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 “…that all men are created equal; that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights; that among these are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (pg.
156)
○ How does this support the belief structure of
the upper class in the colonies?
 How is repetition used throughout the Declaration to
support a “right to free business”?
 What populations are left out of this statement?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 “…that all men are created equal; that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights; that among these are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (pg.
156)
○ Flip side: Jefferson and company can be
considered here to be the intellectual class –
how do they seem to suggest an ushering in
of a new era, free of royalty?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 Look to Wheatley’s Hymn (pg. 172)
○ How does this show only those with the luxury
to “enjoy nature”, rather than those who fight
to survive, or those forced to live within the
cities?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 Look to Wheatley’s Hymn (pg. 172)
○ How does this show only those with the luxury to
“enjoy nature”, rather than those who fight to
survive, or those forced to live within the cities?
○ Bonus Marxist/Post-Colonial Interpretation:
Consider Wheatley’s biography (pg. 170) –
consider elements to her life in which the
dominant culture was FORCED upon her from
youth, and how this contributes to her eventual
fame – does she espouse “white/upper class”
values?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 Look to Wheatley’s Hymn (pg. 172)
○ The optimist viewpoint: consider this hymn as
a method for ALL to enjoy “God’s gifts” in
equal measure – are the best things in life
meant for all?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 Look to Wheatley’s Hymn (pg. 172)
○ The optimist viewpoint: consider this hymn as
a method for ALL to enjoy “God’s gifts” in
equal measure – are the best things in life
meant for all?
○ The bonus: does Wheatley’s fame as a poet
suggest America as a true equalizer?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 Paine – pg. 160 – “tyranny, like hell, is not
easily conquered”
○ How is the ruling power (think post-colonial) of
Great Britain represented?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 Paine – pg. 160 – “tyranny, like hell, is not
easily conquered”
○ How is the ruling power (think post-colonial) of
Great Britain represented?
 What does Paine LEAVE OUT in terms of what the
“new power” will eventually become?
4. Marxist

Discussion:
 Paine – pg. 160 – “tyranny, like hell, is not
easily conquered”
○ How is the ruling power (think post-colonial) of
Great Britain represented?
 Optimistically – how does Paine demonstrate himself
as stepping against the aristocracy for a measure of
equality for all? Consider his statements on
representation, democracy, and rights of freedom.
4. Marxist

The Dialectic
4. Marxist

The Dialectic
 This is the backbone to Marxist thinking –
this system maintains that “…what drives
historical change are the material realities of
the economic base of society, rather than
the ideological superstructure of politics, law,
philosophy, religion, and art that is built upon
that economic base.” - Richter, 1088
4. Marxist

The Dialectic
 Marx states: “stable societies develop sites
of resistance: contradictions build into the
social system that ultimately leads to social
revolution and the development of a new
society upon the old”
4. Marxist

The Dialectic
 Marx states: “stable societies develop sites of
resistance: contradictions build into the social
system that ultimately leads to social revolution
and the development of a new society upon the
old”
 This cycle of contradiction/tension/revolution
must continue – there will ALWAYS be conflict
between upper, middle, and lower (working)
classes, and this conflict will be reflected in
literature and other forms of expression
4. Marxist

The Revolution:
 Sometimes, this control is through a
propagation of values and beliefs – consider
Paine’s constant reference to Providence,
Franklin’s statements that the life he
espouses is a godly life, and Jefferson’s
ideals that they are fated by divinity to rule.
4. Marxist

The Revolution
 Phyllis Wheatley’s “General Washington”
shows signs of divinity – in what ways do
you see literary device used to elevate a
mortal man, a land-holding, slave-owning
aristocrat, to the level of godhood?
4. Marxist

The Revolution
 Phyllis Wheatley’s “General Washington”
shows signs of divinity – in what ways do
you see literary device used to elevate a
mortal man, a land-holding, slave-owning
aristocrat, to the level of godhood?
○ What you see here is a level of propaganda,
from the Marxist perspective, used to keep the
common man docile – against his/her own
best interest, active to keep the aristocrats in
power.
4. Marxist

The Revolution:
4. Marxist
The Revolution:
 Conflict between classes will ALWAYS
lead to upheaval and revolution by
oppressed peoples, forming the
groundwork for a new order of society.
Marx believes the TRUE revolution
would be led by the working class under
the guidance of intellectuals.

4. Marxist
The Revolution:
 Once equality is assured, and the elite
are overthrown, intellectuals will
compose an equal society, where
everyone owns everything.

4. Marxist
The Revolution:
 Once equality is assured, and the elite
are overthrown, intellectuals will
compose an equal society, where
everyone owns everything.

 This is NOT communism. This can best be
described as a democratic socialism. The
“final goal” of such a political/social structure
is a lack of an elite class.
4. Marxist

Final Thought:
 There are a billion permutations and
nuances to be found within this large theory
– Marxist critics can safely be said to be
Marxist when they follow the basic ideals set
above.