Fiction

Marxism in the Thirteenth Night

Deborah Adekoya

Deborah Adekoya

WEALTH & SOCIAL CLASS VS POVERTY & TRUE LOVE

Question: Think about the similarities and differences between Isamu and Roku in terms of social class.  
What do you think Oseki learns from her run-in with Roku?  What is the significance of their meeting through the lens of Marxist theory?

Answer: Oseki realizes that social classes play a big role when it comes to people her family is willing to accept. Even though Roku is the love of her life, he like her is from a low social class, while Isamu is from a higher social class and is more educated than both her and Roku. When it came to her getting married, wealth, Isamu’s social standing, overpowered poverty, Roku’s social standing. She has to pick whether she wants to be selfish and go after true love or whether he wants to be selfless and go after social class, which would bring her family happiness. Through her meeting with Roku, she can see the difference in social class, and how important it is in her society.

grownups

jayleen ramirez

In Toni Cade Bambara’s novel Gorilla, My Love, she shows that Hazel dislikes the way grownups act and gets irritated when they don’t do what they say. Hazel ascribed considerably more weight and importance to remarks that were just passing comments to the grownups in her life. So, how cautious should parents and elders in households be when speaking around small children? Well, due to my own upbringing, I have mixed feelings about how honest parents should be with their children. From a young age, I was taught that honesty is the best policy, but I genuinely think that there are times when small lies are beneficial to children. Seeing as telling the truth could be harmful to their mental health, you must lie until they are old enough to handle the truth. Instances include marital issues, negative feelings about family or friends, personal problems, financial situations, and so on. Adults should constantly be conscious of the words they use in front of youngsters and they should also strive to see things from the child’s point of view. Now, I think it is okay to “tease” to some amount because not all teasing is harmful. It can be funny at times and even bonding. Teasing, on the other hand, can become bullying if it is repeated and intended to hurt. Thus, teasing children is not bad, but you must realize when you are going too far and endangering their growth. You must also recognize that they should be censored to some degree, but even that exposing them to the realities of life is also not a terrible thing.

The Thirteenth Night

Trinasia Harper

Feminist Theory

In society back then women were not able to play prominent roles in society. The role of women was to take care of the house, the husband, and the children. It is fair to say that women were seen and passed off as objects back then. This is shown in the story by the situation that the main character Oseki finds herself in. Her husband is verbally abusive to her, and she wants to leave but she knows that divorcing him would mean giving up everything. It is said in the story that if a woman divorces her husband, she is not allowed to retain custody of her children. A divorce also comes with the loss of benefits for her and her family. We saw this in the story when Oseki’s father and mother spoke about the benefits they and their son were receiving simply because Oseki was the wife of Isamu. We also saw how a woman’s opinion or voice was less important than a man’s. When Oseki voiced her troubles to her parents while her mother agreed that she should leave her husband her father disagreed and told her to put up with it, ultimately convincing her to stay. All of this goes to show how women were not considered as important as mean or not considered as equals.

Marxist Theory

Regarding Marxism, Isamu and Roku exist in two different worlds. While they are both men the way they live are completely different. Isamu can enjoy the luxury of being in a high social class while Roku must work and live out a meager existence as a member of the lower social class. Since Oseki is married to Isamu she would be considered a part of the upper class while Roku would be a part of the lower class. Although they grew up together, they were now in two different worlds. When Oseki and Roku met that night, it was shown that no matter what social class you’re in everyone has struggles. Through the lens of the Marxist Theory, we can see that in the story Oseki who represented the upper class was benefitting from the work of Roku and people like Roku who represent the lower class by using and riding the rickshaws. However, when they realized they knew each other they both felt embarrassed of what the other would think of them.

Government

Trinasia Harper

Both short stories “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” and “The Trial of Thomas Builds the Fire” by Sherman Alexie exists within an unjust and biased kind of government. Throughout the stories we can see the unfairness in the way the BIA treats the native Americans. In the story “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”, when Viktor asks for money to go collect his father’s remains the BIA has seemingly already made up their mind that they were only going to give him a certain amount which was only $100.They also showed a lack of sympathy when he told them about the death of his father. At the beginning of the story “The Trial of Thomas Builds the Fire” a guy from the BIA states when speaking about what charges Thomas would be brought up on “It has to be a felony charge. We don’t need his kind around here anymore.” Along with this statement, Thomas states” He was guilty, he knew that. All that was variable on any reservation was how the convicted would be punished.” These statements show just how discriminatory and unfair the BIA is. Going into the trial just as Thomas said he was already considered guilty before the trial even started. They sentenced him based on stories he told and not real facts which just confirms how unfairly Native Americans were treated.

Alexie- Government

Deborah Adekoya

Deborah Adekoya

This system of government/rulership is a discriminatory one that has many characteristics that indicate what type of government it is. The main characteristic I identified is the “no real justice” so basically the unjust characteristic. We see this in “The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire” when the people in the courtroom made a commotion and the judge wanted to get back to the “administration of justice” and Thomas asked “Is that real justice or the idea of justice?” In this, we see that justice is in question on whether it will be true and real justice. The other characteristic is inequality, we see this because Thomas has to defend himself, and on top of that, the judge is not even willing to see his point of view. We see evidence of the judge discriminating against Thomas when Thomas tells the judge that he in fact does not understand his charges. The judge responds that since Thomas has now decided to speak that proves that he actually does understand. From a reader’s point of view, this makes absolutely no sense. One can only assume the judge said this because Thomas is an Indian and the judge doesn’t see the need for Thomas to know his charge because he is already guilty. The justice system has no mercy or compassion for Thomas. He is a native American man of color, living in America at a time when racial discrimination was at its peak, the justice system definitely was not built to favor him. This is why I think Thomas decided to tell stories in court rather than actually defend himself. He knew the outcome of the case before the case started. I feel like everyone did.

JUSTICE VS DISCRIMINTION

Armand

Alkasti

Armand sat with the letter in his hand, unable to move, unable to think. As he gathers his thoughts he begins to dread who he is and what he is worth. He loses sight of any reason to continue living now that his identity and value have been tarnished with the biggest betrayal he can imagine. He slowly begins to walk away from the plantation leaving everything behind and never returns. He leaves without looking back, and with no thought. Upon finding out that he is black, Armand will feel self-hatred and betrayal for being lied to his whole life.  He may even be in denial and pretend like he never read that letter. Continuing the existing tone of this story I would have him write a letter to Desiree to apologise for the way he treated her and their baby out of embarrassment and shame. 

Chopin

Alkasti

I think the writer’s race does matter when dealing with race. I feel that it matters when speaking from the perspective of another race. When writing for another race you are either writing from your biases or stereotypes or from a 3rd party. A writer may write about what they see but I don’t think the writing will capture the thoughts and emotions of that person for the most part. I also think it may help someone really understand just what that person of a different race is going through. I also don’t believe one should be limited to talking about their opinions on a particular subject matter just because they aren’t in that particular group, whether race or any other minority

Marxism in the Thirteenth Night

Alkasti

This meeting is also interesting through the lens of the Marxist Theory because while both men are extremely similar in personalities, the way they are viewed in society is different. This is because of their social status, as Isamu is viewed as “someone” in society and Oskei is told to bare his behavior because he has a positive influence on their family but Roku has been abandoned by society and his wife. He is now someone that is looked down upon by everyone in society and this shows how money leads to people accepting terrible treatment just to be viewed favorably by the rich or at a higher level than others. Oseki tries to get a divorce because she does not feel comfortable with the way her husband treats her for being from a lower class, she meets again with Roku, the one Oseki thought she would get married to because they liked each other when they were younger.

Feminism In Ichiyo

Alkasti

In the story, “The Thirteenth Night”  there are two characters Isamu and Roku, which have no similarities in terms of their social class, as one is a rickshaw driver and the other is someone known and important in society. However, the differences in the social ranking are made up for with the similarities in their characters and personalities. As both men have little respect or care for their love partners and family, making them to both be miserable husbands and fathers. When Oskei runs into Roku and he tells her his life story and what he is doing recently, this was an important reconnection because it shows Oskei that she is not the only woman suffering and that the problem isn’t because of the higher stats of her husband but his character. Much like many parts of the world at this time, the status women had in society was extremely limited. If a woman wanted to leave a life of maidservant or cleaner the only option she had was to marry into a family of wealth and higher status. Tied to the wealth of the man she married, her life no longer mattered as much as his.

Discussion Post Topic (choice one): Writing as Activism

Darren

Writing is and still can be a viable means of activism for the BIPOC community in the United States. Even if social media has become the new newspaper, writing still has a big impact on activism because writing is not only done on paper, it can also be done virtually. We can communicate our thoughts and work through social media that people can read. If anything, writing has become a very accessible tool in activism through social media. Just like Bambara’s writing was a form of activism, the same can still be done today. Organizations such as the NAACP often use social media to share their work and activism. Journalists also still write important information that can be accessed through social media as well (articles, documents, etc.). Though writing is no longer as traditional as it was in the past, writing still and always will be a viable means to activism.