Week 5 - Appleman Ch. 4

Chapter Four - Of Grave Diggers and Kings: Reading Literature Through the Marxist Lens, or, What's Class Got to Do with It?

Similarities between feminist and Marxist lens - "both political, both interrogate textual features with considerations of power and oppression, they both invite us to consider the kinda of prevailing ideologies that help construct social realities in which we participate."(59)

I like that it addresses the diverse literary cannon and how teachers are now addressing background knowledge as well as addressing cultural and historical aspects with multicultural literature, as new reasons to introduce Marxism.

It helps that Appleman explains that Marxism helps us to consider "the political context of texts themselves." (60) It also "encourages students to consider the ways in which literary texts and the reading audiences for those texts - including themselves, their classmates, and their teachers - are socially constructed." (61)

I like that it offers texts such as "The Grapes of Wrath", "Hamlet", and "Of Mice and Men" as examples of texts to teach with Marxism.

I don't like that it focuses only on class. I think when paired with feminism or gender theory it encompasses more, and becomes a better idea, and a stronger topic to teach.