More on Marxism

I never realized how many examples we can take from Marxism and relate it to life in American Society. After reading Dr. Craig’s post on the Theory and Academy page, I have a much better understanding on Marxism and how we are able to use it. We can identify Marxist ideas through text as well as in our everyday lives.

The point in Dr. Craig’s post that really got to me was when he got into professional sports from a class standpoint. I have always known that professional athletes make more than enough money, but I never thought twice about it. It is amazing that the majority of the money comes from the middle class buying tickets, jerseys, hats, etc. As an avid sports fan I always looked to how my teams were benefiting me. I have never really considered all of the meaning behind fans simply rooting for their teams. This is a great example of the higher class controlling and maintaining their power. As long as the working class stays loyal as sports fans, there are so many ways to bring in their money.

Consider the New York Yankees. The Yankees played their last game at the original Yankee Stadium just last week. After all of the history and tradition going into that stadium, the owners decide its time to move on. The new stadium has in fact a lesser amount of seats than the original, but holds more luxury boxes. The owners are certainly not looking out for their fans in this case. All in all, the Yankees will of course receive the same amount of praise. This is because the team is more important than where they play and how much the seats cost, which is exactly the thought they want us to buy into.

Liberal Humanism vs. Marxist Critics

In my previous post I briefly spoke of liberal humanism and the significance of literature itself in our culture. After learning of Marxist criticism in Barry’s Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, I realize these critics go against some of the ideals of liberal humanism. The first tenet of liberal humanism expresses the idea that literature is of "timeless significance," meaning it can somehow carry past the time period it was created. Literature can do this through human nature with the belief that certain emotions and thoughts never change over time. Marxist critics tend to relate more to economic factors when analyzing text. They often look into social-class status, specifically that of the author. They also believe that literary forms are associated with certain methods of time periods and class status. For example, the style of iambic pentameter relates to the time periods’ social stability and order. I feel as though Marxist critics may relate literature to social status and class structure more than they should. If they pay too much attention to these factors, they lose the most meaningful points the literature may bring out. Human emotions may deal with economic struggles and triumph, but there are also many that can be shared with people of different social classes.

Starting The Crawf Chronicles

Hello everyone. For those who are interested in what this blog is all about I will give a brief description of what is to come in the upcoming posts. As you may have read above, I am currently studying at Emmanuel College in Boston. This semester I am taking a class called Critical Theory & the Academy, where we will be studying the concepts of literary theory. In this class we will be covering many essential types of criticism including Marxism, structuralism, and post structuralism. These are just a few of the many types of criticism we will discuss.

Literature to me is the expression of ones ideas, emotions and beliefs in text. Whether someone is writing a factual essay or a non-fictional piece, it is all backed by ones ideals and thoughts. In Peter Barry's Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literacy and Cultural Theory, it is said that there is no distinct right or wrong answer in literature. Unlike mathematics and science, literature is left to ones own interpretations. From this I also learned that even though language can evolve through time human nature is always the same. "Human nature is essentially unchanging. The same passions, emotions, and even situations are seen again and again throughout human history"(Barry 18).

I am looking forward to learning more about all types of theory and writing on them. It will be interesting to see how literature and ways of criticism have evolved throughout history. Hopefully I will be able to identify differences as well as similarities in each time period. Look for a new post next week. Until then this is A. Crawford signing off.