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MARXIST
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APPROACH IN
LITERTURE
21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE
PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD
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MARXIST CRITICISM
• It is a belief that literature reflects the class
struggles and materialism.
• It looks at how literature functions in
relation to other aspects of the
superstructure, particularly other
articulations of ideology.
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MARXIST CRITICISM
• It investigates how literature can work as a
force for social change, or as a reaffirmation
of exiting conditions similar to the feminist
criticism.
• It examines how history influences literature
similar to historical criticism but Marxism
focuses on the lower classes.
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MARXIST THEORY AND LITERTURE

1. Economic Power
2. Materialism VS Spirituality
3. Class Conflict
4. Art, Literature and Ideologies
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SOCIAL CLASS IN MARXISM

1. proletariat
2. bourgeoisie
3. lumpenproletariat
4. landlord
5. peasantry
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GENERAL
PRINCIPLES OF
MARXIST CRITICISM
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GENERAL PRINCIPLES
• literature as a tool in the revolutuinoary
struggle
• clarify the relationship of literary work to
social reality
• political in nature
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GENERAL PRINCIPLES
• literary work has always a relationship to the
society
• representation of the main struggles for
power in the literary work that time
• highlights solution from the critic
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GUIDE QUESTIONS
IN MARXIST
APPROACH
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MARXISM BEGS TO ANSWER THE FF.

1. What is the economic status of the

character and what happens to them as
a result of this status?
2. How do they fare against economic
and political odds?
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MARXISM BEGS TO ANSWER THE FF.

3. What other conditions stemming from

their class does the writer emphasize?
4. To what extent does the work fail by
overlooking the economic, social and
political implications of its material?
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MARXISM BEGS TO ANSWER THE FF.

5. How should the reader’s consider this

story in today’s developed or
underdeveloped world?
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HOW TO ANALYZE
TEXT USING THE
MARXIST APPROACH?
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ANALYZING WITH KARL MARX

•Approach the text with an eye for how
the characters interact. Marxist thought
relies on relationships between
individuals and even aspect of
relationships that are “social.”
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ANALYZING WITH KARL MARX

•Evaluate the vocational roles of all the
characters. The Marxist approach
includes a focus on a “class system”
where the vocations of the character is
the main reference.
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EVALUATION
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EVALUATION

Choose the letter of the best

answer. Leave a blank space if
the answer is not included.
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EVALUATION
1. Which of the following is not reflected
by Marxist Criticism?
A. Spirituality
B. Class Conflicts
C. Materialism
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EVALUATION
2. Which of the following critical
approach Marxist criticism is not similar?
A. Feminist Criticism
B. Formalistic Criticism
C. Historical Criticism
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EVALUATION
3. Which of the following best describes
economic system?
A. surplus of values
B. the unequal distribution of power
C. moving force behind human history
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EVALUATION
4. According to Marx, what is the nature
of reality?
A. spirit
B. products
C. laborers
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EVALUATION
5. What is the main focus of the conflict
between various classes?
A. Contradiction
B. Evaluation
C. Relation
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EVALUATION
6. What class have the ability to control
art, literature and ideologies?
A. proletariat
B. bourgeoisie
C. workers
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EVALUATION
7. According to this approach, Marxism
examines history but focuses on the lower
classes. What is it?
A. Feminism
B. Formalism
C. Historicism
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EVALUATION
8. Which of the following is not a general
principle of Marxist criticism?
A. tool for revolutionary struggle
B. relationship between literature and
society
C. political in nature
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EVALUATION
9. Which of the following aspects is not a
focus of Marxist criticism?
A. economic
B. social
C. political
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EVALUATION
10. Which is not a goal of Marxist
criticism?
A. expose class conflict
B. assess political tendency
C. apply literature to politics