The University of Maryland University College Asia

David Norris, Associate Professor

English 303 Critical Approaches to Literature

Marxism

Ira Shor's 11 Questions:

1.  Does the work come right out and reject socialism?

2.  Does the text criticize the emptiness of life in

bourgeois society?

3.  How total is the author's portrayal of society?

4.  What is emphasized?  What is ignored?

5.  How is the individual's fate determined by society?

6.   What are the work's conflicting forces?

7.  Are any actions or solutions to problems forced or

unreal? 

8.  Are characters from all social levels equally well-

sketched? 

9.  What are the values of each class in the work?

10. Are the main problems or solutions in the text

individual or collective? 

11. Which values allow effective action?

 Three Goals of the Marxist Approach:

1. Expose the dominant class

2. Show how its ideology controls and oppresses all actions

of the working class      

3. Highlight the elements of society most affected by such

oppression