Marxism – A Critical Theory

HISTORY OF COMMUNISM 

Karl Marx is considered the Father of Communism. Marx was a German philosopher and economist who wrote about his ideas in a book called the Communist Manifesto in 1848. His communist theories have also become known as Marxism.

It’s basically the idea of living in a society with an economic divide. Interestingly which can also be called proletariat, hence where the names of the proles comes from.

Marx described ten important aspects of a communist government:

  • No private property (Very little personal items)
  • A single central bank
  • High income tax that would rise significantly as you made more
  • All property rights would be confiscated
  • No inheritance rights
  • The government would own and control all communication and transportation (Big Brother – constant surveillance)
  • The government would own and control all education (Newspeak)
  • The government would own and control factories and agriculture
  • Farming and regional planning would be run by the government
  • The government would tightly control labor (The people aren’t worth anything to the government, it’s their labor which is useful) 

LITERARY THEORIES: MARXISM

‘It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness’

  • reflected in the novel by the quotes Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.” Referring to the proles to show how they could easily over through the party with a series of good decisions. And  “Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.” shows how the state controls the peoples’ existence and therefore determines their consciousness.

The base of a society – the way its economy is organised, broadly speaking – determines its superstructure – everything that we might classify as belonging to the realm of culture, again in a broad sense: education, law, but also religion, philosophy, political programmes, and the arts.

Its outlook is materialist, as opposed to the idealist perspective, whose claim that matter is basically subservient to thought is one of the fundamental assumptions of modern Western culture: we tend to assume that our thinking is free, unaffected by material circumstances. In our minds we can always be free. Wrong, says Marxism, minds aren’t free at all, they only think they are.

  • reflected in the novel by the fact that the party pretends to have the continuous war with East-Asia and Eurasia in order to justify the economic status of the society and therefore able to keep the divide in which the government can control everything.
  • reflected in our lives through advertising and consumerism, more subtle form of manipulation. We think we are in control of of decisions but we are so heavily influenced by the media.

A third Marxist method is to explain the nature of a whole literary genre in terms of the social period which ‘produced’ it. All the same, Marxist literary criticism maintains that a writer’s social class, and its prevailing ‘ideology’ (outlook, values, tacit assumptions, half-realised allegiances, etc.) have a major bearing on what is written by a member of that class.

A fourth Marxist practice is to relate the literary work to the social assumptions of the time in which it is ‘consumed’, a strategy which is used particularly in the later variant of Marxist criticism known as cultural materialism.

  • reflects the time period of time after the war where George Orwell had fears for the future. His projections were entirely based on his own social class, which undermines his creativity and imagination. Based on the idea that the message portrayed in any form of work is a result of the social and economic consciousness of the person and tends to only offer a generalist view of historic events.

A fifth Marxist practice is the ‘politicisation of literary form’, that is, the claim that literary forms are themselves determined by political circumstance. For instance, in the view of some critics, literary realism carries with it an implicit validation of conservative social structures: for others, the formal and metrical intricacies of the sonnet and the iambic pentameter are a counterpart of social stability, decorum, and order.

  • referring to the political views regarding a totalitarian society in the novel

Rotary Speech Competition – Art is Life – Final

Our environment is on the verge of collapse. Isn’t this the truth? Some of the greatest developments of the last 50 years, technology with its social media, mass communication, accessible information and Artificial Intelligence have stripped us of our sense of connectedness and belonging. The top 1% of the wealthy owned 82% of the global generated income last year, that’s equivalent to 42 of the world’s richest people, 9/10 being men – by the way, owning more than the poorest 50% of people worldwide who are barely able to scrape together enough to eat. Where did we go wrong?

As a person living in 2018, with a few years still up my sleeve, I have a vision for the future that does not mean repeating failures of the past. I have a vision that we will live in a world where people possess the ability to reflect and critique on the world around them; where we are able to express our individuality and diversity with confidence and are able to respect others for theirs; where we strive to immerse ourselves in a life rich with creativity and connectedness to those around us.

There is a solution to this. It is deceptively simple. It is the arts.

I want to start by asking you a question: What does a 5 year old need to thrive? You are probably thinking about things like unconditional love and support, a sense of belonging, food and shelter, education, freedom… Is it a coincidence that some of the very first things we teach children are things like colouring in, dancing and singing? And is it any coincidence that the life of a five year old is filled with joy, love and a desire to learn?

With that in mind, I want to ask you another question: What does a 50 year old need to thrive? Are you still thinking about things like unconditional love and support, a sense of belonging, food and shelter, education, freedom…not entirely – things like financial stability, a secure job and the mortgage being paid off  also spring to mind, and to be fair, children do not have such worries, but is it a coincidence that 50 year olds dance and sing less, are less capable of innovative ideas and in general are less happy than a 5 year old? Is it a coincidence that in New Zealand the second highest age group for suicide is 45-50 year olds? And with male suicides nearly tripling that of the female population? What went wrong? What have we replaced our artistic expression with that has resulted in a society that is lacking in joy and inspiration.

The answer to this epidemic lies in education. Our preconceived idea about intelligence has lead to an education system that values knowledge over creativity and which is ruled by a scheme of testing and conformity that has stifled the creative impulse in our society. Our current education system is failing us, plain and simple. Is it fair that we push our students into academic careers when what the world needs is creative solutions to our most pressing crises?

It’s not about teaching the arts, it’s about teaching through the arts. Let me elaborate on this for you. What I propose is to incorporate the arts into all aspects of learning. For example, take any subject you like, perhaps maths. Now imagine being in a class where you are not only taught complex algebra and how to extrapolate data but in a way which the content is presented through the principles of the arts. Imagine being able to look at an equation and marvel at the complexity of the algorithms and patterns and then see how these relate to aspects of biology in nature and physics in the universe.  Creating theses connections between subjects through the principles of the arts allows for more stimulating material that engages students in their learning.

The arts will also allow us to confront some of our greatest fears. The fear of the ineffable: life and death. Art is arguably the most human of human endeavours, and it’s only through art that we can come close to making sense of the world around us; why we are here, why we exist when in reality there is no meaningful answer. We possess the gift of virtuosity which allows us to enjoy the simple things in life as well as finding beauty in the complexity and obscurity of our universe.

I imagine a future where we all call ourselves artists. It’s time to move forward into a new generation of thinking. The mathematicians and scientists have had there time but now it is up to us to make the change.

This is your life, and I hope you find the time to dance.

Satire

Social Convention: Education

Exaggerate: Without a proper education you’ll be homeless your whole life!
Understatement: School doesn’t teach you anything.
Express it using litotes: Education’s not that important, it only prepares you for your future.

14/02/2018

Ideas
– Individuality in Education
– Solider in war writing in different form as not to be detected
– Dancing
– Youth Voice
– Studying
– Customer Service

The Tantalizing Trauma

Oh how I look upon you with desire,
my heart beats faster when you near me.
I cannot resist the feel of your skin,
as I cross your bare back.

Oh how, your complexity is astounding.
I fear you, but I know I need you.
But, I will leave you waiting,
you know I want you to complete me.

As I sit holding you in my hands,
I sigh, oh how I hate you.
I want nothing more than to destroy you,
and exactly that’s what I’ll do.

I scrunch you up,
toss you across the room.
They will never know,
they will never suspect,
that I,
an A student,
did not do my homework.

21/02/2018

FORM

Semantics: Meaning
Surface meaning – A love hate relationship
Underlying meaning – Simple meaning, not doing homwork

Syntax: Grammar
– Poem
– Romantic
– Simple Sentences
– Incomplete Senteces

Style: Dictation, Figurative Language, Viewpoint

– Rhythm, Rhyme

Consumerism.

Customer service is the most important factor in the retail industry! Customer satisfaction is paramount for business success and essential for developing positive clientele relationships. Here are some top tips to ensure that you are getting the best service for your money!

  1. patience – taking forever to decide then changing order
  2. attentative – finger prints on glass, rubbish on tables
  3. clear communication skills – customer voice, small talk
  4. knowledge of the product – random questions
  5. acting skills – dying on the inside, when will this end?

This is your online portfolio

Hello and welcome to your personal online journal.

This platform has been created to enhance and enrich your learning at Mount Aspiring College. Its purpose is to provide you with an audience for your work (or work-in-progress) and you have the choice (by altering the ‘visibility’ of your posts) of whether your work on here is visible to the world, or only to your teacher.

Anything you post here in the public domain represents you and thus it’s important that you take care with that decision, but don’t be afraid to publish your work – as the feedback you may get from people at home, your peers and people from around the internet is only likely to enhance it.

Remember you can always access your class blog and all manner of resources through the Department of English main website – and by all means check out the sites of your peers to see what they’re getting up to as well.

If you have any questions for me, an excellent way to get an answer is to create a new private post on this journal. I am notified of any new posts and will reply swiftly to any queries.

Make the most of, and enjoy this new freedom in your English learning.

Righto!

 

Chris Waugh