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Gisela Ortiz

Carson McCullers: Marxism - 0 views

www.woonsockethigh.org/faculty/rnordin/themember/Literary Criticism.htm

Marxism Racism Critique Carson McCullers

shared by Gisela Ortiz on 25 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Hunter portrays oppressed classes of the South, such as blacks and women, describes the "fascist" ideology in which they live, and uses Marxist ideas about religion as a central theme.
    • Gisela Ortiz
      Gisela Ortiz on 25 Jan 11
       
      Carson McCullers uses the same theme in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter as in The Member of the Weddding; oppression in the South, racism, etc.
  • For Karl Marx, literature and art are products of an artist's labor that show oppressed people a picture of where they stand in their society. A work should "describe the real mutual relations, break down conventional illusions about them . . . but not offer any definite solution . . ." (Eagleton 46) . McCullers' novel exposes the ideology of the South in the 1930s as one in which blacks, textile workers, and women are oppressed. It portrays their individual struggles without offering a solution to them.
    • Gisela Ortiz
      Gisela Ortiz on 25 Jan 11
       
      Like in The Member of the Wedding, McCullers mixes in a variety of racist ideas and the belief of "equality" and uses irony to contradict these themes. She shows how oppressed the blacks are, but she keeps them in the struggle and she shows their hardships throughout her novels.
  • He mentions Jesus as an important historical figure, but then devotes the rest of his time to speaking of Karl Marx, whom he describes in religious terms.
    • Gisela Ortiz
      Gisela Ortiz on 25 Jan 11
       
      In The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Singer is represented as a Jesus-figure. This is so, because the deaf-mute man is always there to "listen" to everybody's stories, hardships, etc.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Jake calls it "The strangled South. The wasted South. The slavish south" ( Hunter 254).
  • She argues that the book includes social and religious issues together because McCullers offers both white and black Christ figures. Champion writes that the black Christ is persecuted more severely than the white Christ, but the significant point is that they are both crucified: "Spirituality, loneliness and human isolation "crucify" all members of society" (Champion 52).
    • Gisela Ortiz
      Gisela Ortiz on 25 Jan 11
       
      Christ figures:black and white. States that even though these two "Christ's" are of different racial entities, they are both judged the same in the ending, "crucifixion" (being alone in life, isolation, etc). Not real death, but both live miserable lives.
  • McCullers states that the main theme of the book is "man's revolt against his own inner isolation and his urge to express himself as fully as is possible" (Smith 124).
  • Marxism in Carson McCullers' "Strangled South"
    • Gisela Ortiz
      Gisela Ortiz on 25 Jan 11
       
      Argument: Call states that in McCullers novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, use Marxist ideas and the theme of racial equality. Not only does she state that Carson uses oppression in blacks, but she never gives them an opportunity to end their struggle. She writes about it. Call also argues that she saw Singer as a Christ figure "with a different context" as in there was a black and a white "Christ". Of course, the black one is prosecuted more than the white one is, but they both live miserable and lonely lives.Evidence: "Hunter portrays oppressed classes of the South, such as blacks and women, describes the "fascist" ideology in which they live, and uses Marxist ideas about religion as a central theme.""...the black Christ is persecuted more severely than the white Christ, but the significant point is that they are both crucified: "Spirituality, loneliness and human isolation "crucify" all members of society."Thoughts: "For Karl Marx, literature and art are products of an artist's labor that show oppressed people a picture of where they stand in their society. A work should "describe the real mutual relations, break down conventional illusions about them . . . but not offer any definite solution . . ." (Eagleton 46) . McCullers' novel exposes the ideology of the South in the 1930s as one in which blacks, textile workers, and women are oppressed. It portrays their individual struggles without offering a solution to them."Call shows many viewpoints that showcase her argument that McCullers uses marxism in her novels. Even though Call uses many examples in portraying her argument, she uses mostly what other critics have said about this book and not much of her own voice. This feels as if it's more of an accumulation of many critiques put into one. Now that I have read this critique, however, I can see the different uses of Marxism in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.
alex schneider

Literary Resource Center- Ellison - 0 views

web.ebscohost.com.lib.chandleraz.gov/...detail

Criticism Ellison Invisible Man Shadow and Act marxism race

shared by alex schneider on 07 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • alex schneider on 07 Dec 10
     
    Argument: Marxism in both reality and fiction typically represent African Americans as a lower class, ignorant, disrespected race. Claim: Ellison develops his characters, of dark ethnicity, as a person reaching outside of an animalistic portrayal, and exposes an intellect, developing a bridge between race. Evidence: Perhaps, Ellison's maritime experience, led him to..."took a moral responsibility for democracy" and who represented African Americans in a way that few had--"as a symbol of Man."
alex schneider

Literary Resource Center- Ellison - 1 views

web.ebscohost.com.lib.chandleraz.gov/...detail

Invisible man critiques

shared by alex schneider on 07 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • alex schneider on 07 Dec 10
     
    Argument: DIsplay of power by a race determines the amount of respect they receive. Physical identity determines consciousness and creation of american culture. Claim: Seperation and 'diversity' of of races in the 1950's presented in Invisible Man and Shadow and Act, display a use of Marxism as a real satire to portray the mistreatment that some races face, even though these races are people, and they are American. Evidence: What once looked tame or apolitical in Ellison's work--his emphasis on identity, freedom, and the vast potential for diversity in American life--has come to seem more radical than the political criticism that rejected it; this too has become part of our revised view of the postwar years. The key to Ellison's approach is his way of exploring his double consciousness, his sense of identity as a Negro and as an American. You cannot have an American experience without having a black experience.
alex schneider

Ellison Music Motif - 0 views

www.redhotjazz.com/louie.html

shared by alex schneider on 23 Jan 11 - Cached
  • alex schneider on 23 Jan 11
     
    Argument: In using music as a symbol and motif in his novels and essays, Ellison contributes jazz artists not only as musicians who inspire and express Ellison's evolution as a person, but represent a social case that he personifies through their music. Claim: Ellison uses the motif of music to both represent evolution of a person, and the social distinction/respect a black man gains through music. Such musicians as Louis Armstrong, have unintentionally utilized their music to raise their social class and respect (an element of Marxism). Quote: "He was from a very poor family and was sent to reform school when he was twelve after firing a gun in the air on New Year's Eve. At the school he learned to play cornet. After being released at age fourteen, he worked selling papers, unloading boats, and selling coal from a cart...The band went through a number of personnel changes over the years but remained extremely popular worldwide. They toured extensively travelling to Africa, Asia, Europe and South America for the next twenty years until Louis' failing health caused them to disband. Armstrong became known as America's Ambassador."
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