Tayari Jones’ An American Marriage (2018): A Marxist Reading

Abstract

This paper focuses on examining the principles of Marxism as reflected in an active form in the novel and how it relates to the realistic experience of the African American society. It is obvious to humans that the society is stratified into groups or classes. The mainstream runs between the rich and the poor which when extended can include the weak and powerful, then the leaders and the led. This stratification has been better understood using the theory of Marxism. Marxism principally affects the physical, social, political and mental state of a man. Accordingly, there are countless literary texts that have been created to reflect the principles of Marxism as seen in the society. Among them is the novel titled “An American Marriage” that examines such tenets of Marxism such as racial segregation, gender roles, and violence. Themes of the novel as they relate to core principles of Marxism and popular literary and non-literary appraisal of the novel will be highlighted in the study. In conclusion, most analysts and critics feel that the theory of Marxism can only be applied to novels on core issues such as wars, violent conflict, riot, employment issues and any other forms of revolution.