1. Quarter 2 : Lesson 1
MARXIST LITERARY CRITICISM
21st Century Literature
from the Philippines and
the World
2. 21st Century Literature
from the Philippines
and the World Quarter
2: Module 1 Lesson 1
MELC: Writing a close analysis and
critical interpretation of literary
texts, applying a reading approach,
and doing an adaptation of these,
require from the learner the ability
to identify ; representative texts and
authors from Asia, North America,
Europe, Latin America, and Africa
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3. Specific Objectives:
1. Define and explain Marxist criticism and its key
concepts
2. Analyze a narrative of class struggle in a given text
3. Write a critical analysis of the reading text using
the Marxist literary criticism
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5. TRY-OUT
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Before you start your learning
adventure, please try to answer first
the task below. This task will give you
an overview of what you will learn as
you go along the way to this lesson.
Good Luck!
6. Activity 1. Match each of the following terms with
the correct definition. Write the letter of your
answer on your notebook.
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a. Labor Revolt
b. Materialism
c. Marxist Criticism
d. Class Struggle
e. Capitalism
f. Classless Society
g. Ideology
h. Working Class
i. Literary Criticism
j. Equality
7. ________1. The conflict of interests
between the workers and the ruling class in
a capitalist society, regarded as inevitably
violent.
“
”
8. ________2. An umbrella term for a number
of critical approaches to literature that draw
inspiration from the social and economic
theories of Karl Marx.
“
”
9. ________3. A period of civil unrest
characterized by strong labor militancy
and strike activity.
“
”
10. ________4. A form of philosophical monism that
holds that matter is the fundamental substance
in nature, and all things, including mental states
and consciousness, are results of material
interactions.
“
”
11. _______5. Refers to a society in which no one is
born into a social class. Such distinctions of
wealth, income, education, culture, or social
network might arise and would only be
determined by individual experience and
achievement in such a society.
“
”
12. _______6. It is an economic system in which the
means of production and distribution are
privately or corporately owned and the
operations are funded by profits.
“
”
13. _______7. It is the reasoned
consideration of literary works and
issues.
“
”
14. _______8. A social group that consists of people
who earn little money, often being paid only for
the hours or days that they work, and who
usually do physical work.
“
”
15. _______9. This refers to the body of doctrine,
myth, belief and the like, that guides an
individual, social movement, institution, class, or
large group.
“
”
17. ANSWER KEY
(PRE-TEST Activity 1)
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1. Class struggle
2. Marxist Criticism
3. Worker’s Revolt
4. Materialism
5. Classless Society
6. Capitalism
7. Literary Criticism
8. Working Class
9. ideology
10.Equality
18. ACTIVITY 2. Study the following photo which compares
disparity between the rich and the poor. Write your insights
about it on a separate sheet of paper.
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19. Class struggle is ever
present in our world. Even
in first world countries, this
issue still exists. It becomes
a hot topic in the well-
known literary text such as
“Dialogue on Poverty” by
Yomanoue no Okura ,
“Literature for the Masses”
by Mao Zedong and even
teleseryes like “Ang
Probinsyano”.
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20. If you belong to a new
generation seeking to
comprehend the on-going
class struggle, you need to
study MARXISM. Read the
selection below and find out
how you can analyze and
interpret literary text using
MARXIST CRITICISM .
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25. For later Marxists, however,
literature became a document of a
kind of knowledge and a record of
the historical conditions that
produced that knowledge.
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26. Like cultural criticism, Marxist
literary criticism offers critiques
of the “canon” and focuses on
the ways in which culture and
power intersect;
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27. for a Marxist critic, literature
both reproduces existing power
relations and offers a space
where they can be contested and
redefined.
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28. In short, Marxism is
the scientific study
of society and
literature is a
particular reflection
of it.
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30. Literature is an outcome
of the active participation
of the writers in the socio-
political, and economic
life of the people.
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34. • Social class as
represented in the work
• Social class of the
writer /creator
• Social class of the
characters
• Conflicts and
interactions between
economic classes
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35. How to use Marxism
in Analyzing Literary
text?
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36. There is no prescribed structure in writing Marxist
analysis of literature, but the following parts are
almost always present.
37. INTRODUCTION:
a. Title of the
book/article/work
b. Writer’s Name
c. Thesis statement
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38. BODY:
a. Major findings, claims,
ideas, or messages
b. You may address the
following questions:
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39. ❖ Whom does it benefit if the work or
effort is
accepted/successful/believed, etc.?
- What is the social class of the
author?
❖ Which class does the work claim to
represent?
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40. ❖ What values does it
reinforce?
❖ What values does it subvert?
❖ What conflict can be seen
between the values the work
champions and those it
portrays?
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41. ❖ What social classes do
the characters represent?
❖ How do characters from
different classes interact or
conflict?
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45. Activity 3. After reading the passage, answer the
following questions in your notebook.
45
1. What is Marxist criticism?
2. Where did Marxism come from?
3. What are the key concepts of Marxism?
4. Who are the important 20th century Marxist literary critics?
5. What is the relationship between Marxism & literature?
6. What is the significance of Marxism to literary criticism?
7. How are the key concepts of Marxism correlated with literature?
8. What are the basic parts of Marxist critical analysis?
46. Read and understand the poem below, then critic
and analyze it by answering the questions that
follows:
47. The Dialogue of the Poor and Destitute
by Yomanoue no Okura
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Williams N.M. Writings of Yamanoue Okura 2016:
https: //chinajapan.org/articles/23/
48. Activity 4:
On a separate sheet of paper,
write a short Marxist critical
analysis of the poem above, use
the following questions as your
guide:
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❖ What is the title of the poem?
❖ Who is the author?
❖ What is the theme of poem?
❖ What is the social class of the
author?
❖ Which class does the work claim to
represent?
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- What values does it reinforce?
❖ What values does it subvert?
❖ What conflict can be seen between
the values the work champions and
those it portrays?
❖ How do characters from different
classes interact or conflict?
❖ What social classes do the
characters represent?
❖ What is the scholarly or literary
value of the reading text?
50. Guess the Word
ACTIVITY 5 Write the word that
makes the most sense in the blank,
using the words below. Each word
will be used only one time. Use a
separate sheet of paper for your
answers.
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52. 1. We all look at the woman’s feet
________ underneath her long
skirt.
2. She is ______her toes, purple
from nail polish.
3. I can tell from the cord ______ at
the side of her neck and the way she
smacks her big lips that whatever she
is eating tastes really good.
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1.We all look at the woman’s feet ________
underneath her long skirt.
2.She is ______her toes, purple from nail polish.
3.I can tell from the cord ______ at the side of
her neck and the way she smacks her big lips
that whatever she is eating tastes really good.
4.I swallow with her, my throat ______.
55. The short story "Hitting Budapest" by NoViolet
Bulawayo is an internationally known literary text
which received various recognitions.
In this story, NoViolet examines convoluted issues of
social inequality and inadequate access to resources
in such an amazing way through her creative
determination and imagination to improve the
material conditions of her characters.
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