Tayari Jones’ An American Marriage (2018): A Marxist Reading
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1406.31Keywords:
Marxism, Celestial, marriage, employee, oppressionAbstract
This paper focuses on examining the principles of Marxism as reflected in an active form in the novel and how it relates to the realistic experience of the African American society. It is obvious to humans that the society is stratified into groups or classes. The mainstream runs between the rich and the poor which when extended can include the weak and powerful, then the leaders and the led. This stratification has been better understood using the theory of Marxism. Marxism principally affects the physical, social, political and mental state of a man. Accordingly, there are countless literary texts that have been created to reflect the principles of Marxism as seen in the society. Among them is the novel titled “An American Marriage” that examines such tenets of Marxism such as racial segregation, gender roles, and violence. Themes of the novel as they relate to core principles of Marxism and popular literary and non-literary appraisal of the novel will be highlighted in the study. In conclusion, most analysts and critics feel that the theory of Marxism can only be applied to novels on core issues such as wars, violent conflict, riot, employment issues and any other forms of revolution.
References
Afolayan, S. (2011). A Marxist Interpretation of the Dystopian Society in the African Novel, Kemanuslaan. http://web.usm.my/kajh/vol%2018.2.2011/KAJH%2018.2.2011%201.pdf. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
Bowles, S. & Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in Capitalist America. New York: Basic Books.
Charles, Ron. "Oprah's newest book club pick: 'An American Marriage,' by Tayari Jones". https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/an-african-american-couple-torn-apart-by-the-justice-system/2018/01/30/eab5bd02-0524-11e8-8777-2a059f168dd2_story.html. Retrieved February 8, 2019.
Eagleton, T. (1996). Literary Theory: An Introduction: Second Edition. US: Mimeopolis: The University of Minnesota Press.
Eagleton, T. (2006). Criticism and Ideology: A Study in Marxist Critical Method, Influenced by the Work of Althusser and Macherey, With a Concluding Chapter on the Problem of Value. United Kingdom: London.
Engels, Friedrich. (1978). Letters on Historical Materialism. US: New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
Flood, Alison. (2019). "Women's prize for fiction goes to 'utterly moving' Tayari Jones novel". The Guardian. https://www.npr.org/2019/04/11/711421164/watch-live-aspen-words-literary-prize-finalists-go-deeper-than-the-dust-jacket. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
Jones, Tayari. (2018). An American Marriage. Alogonquin. USA. Book of Chapel Hill.
Jones, Tayari. (2018). Black Lives Matter.com
Jones, Tayari. (2018). www.academia.edu/42106019/The_Marxist_Aspect_in_Bessie_Heads_A_Question_of_Powe
Marx, Karl. (1844). Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts, Private Property and Communism. www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/comm.htm.
Nellie, Ashley. (2021). The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons. www.sentencingproject.org/app/uploads/2022/08/The-Color-of-Justice-Racial-and-Ethnic-Disparity-in-State-Prisons.pdf.
Parris, L. (2007). Being and Totality: Ontologyand Universality in Bessie Head's a Question of Power. Stirrings Still, The International Journal of Existential Literature.
Pashukanis, Evgeny. (2002). The General Theory of Law & Marxism. Canada: Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick.
Plekhanov, G. (1953). Art and Social Life: A Collection of Plekhanov’s Major Essays on Literature. United Kingdom, London.
Ramkrishna, Bhattacharya. (2016). Marxist Literary Criticism: What It Is Not. ttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/291728844_Marxist_Literary_Criticism_What_It_Is_Not
Sean, Walton. (2021). A prolegomenon to a critical race theoretical Marxism, Power and Education. Retrieved from: sagepub.com/journals-permissions. June 17, 2018.
Sellin, Thorsten. (1938). Culture Conflict and Crime. US: New Jersey: Social Science Research Council.
Tyson, Lois. (2006). Critical Theory Today. London: Routledge.
Weikart, Richard. (1994). Marx, Engels, and the Abolition of the Family. UK: History of European Ides, Elsevier Science.
Willhelm, S. (1980). Can Marxism Explain America's Racism? UK: Oxford University Press.
Winfrey, Oprah. "Oprah's New Book Club: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones". https://www.oprah.com/inspiration/an-american-marriage-by-tayari-jones-oprahs-book-club-2018. Retrieved February 8, 2019.
