The Attitude and Believe of Individuals Living in The Social Class of Proletariat

THE ATTITUDE and BELIEVE OF INDIVIDUALS LIVING 

IN THE SOCIAL CLASS OF PROLETARIAT

based on Tony Harrison's poem, Marked with D

INTRODUCTION

Marxist criticism is an activity to analyze and understand political and social problems in relation to struggles between different socioeconomic classes. Marxist criticism is not tended only at individuals in society. This criticism focuses on how social life is structured by social class which is determined by one's work relationship or profession. Or in other words, this critique tries to show how a high social class, which is strong and economically capable, exploits and dominates the economically disadvantaged social class. 

In my previous analysis, I'm going to use Karl Marx theory to analyze the literary work. Marx was a German philosopher, economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, journalist and socialist. Although Marx wrote about many things during his lifetime, he is most famous for his analysis of history, especially on class struggle. His notable works are the 1848 pamphlet, The Communist Manifesto, and the three-volume work Das Kapital. His political and philosophical thought had an influence on later intellectual, economic and political history and his name is used as a reference and school of social theory. Marx's theories of society, economy and politics (known as Marxism) state that mankind develops through class struggle

Tony Harrison, was born on April 30, 1937 in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Harrison was an English poet, translator and filmmaker whose work reveals the tensions and connections between his working class background and the sophistication and beauty of literary poetry.

Harrison attended Leeds Grammar School and received a degree in linguistics while attending the University of Leeds. Harrison has written for the National Theater in London as well as the Metropolitan Opera in New York. His first poetic work was Earthworks, published in 1964. He traveled widely and began to continue writing poetry while living in Europe and America.

Marked with a D is a poem by Tony Harrison published in 1987 by Penguin Books. This poem is talking about a baker

DISCUSSION

From several sources that I found, many of them say that in this poem Harrion talks about his own father who is a baker.  

At the first 2 line , 

'When the chilled dough of his flesh went in an oven

not unlike those he fuelled all his life,'

The author talks about a man seen from the use of the words 'his' and 'him'. The man discussed here has a profession as a baker because the author also uses the words 'dough' and 'oven'.

According to Karl Marx, social class is divided into 3

1. Aristocracy ,People in this class have social and economic power like the example of a King

2. Bourgeoisie,individuals who control the business world for example presidents and big entrepreneurs like Jack Ma

3. Proletariat are individuals who have fairly low economic power such as construction workers, restaurant employees and others. 

If it is related to the social class, I guess this man is in the proletariat class because he wes a baker and the poem doesn't show that this man owns the bakery, so I thought he was just a baker who worked in a bakery. And this claim can be strengthened by the thirteenth line of this poem 'The baker's man that no one will see rise' which seems that people in this class do not get the attention of the surrounding community, unlike the two classes above. Because the most known is people who own the bakery, not their employees.

According to an IvyPanda essay, in this poem Harrison as the author is talking about his own family and it was his father, so the man that i'm talking about in the first paragraph is Harrison's father.. Here Harrison also expresses his father's death by using a metaphor in the sentence ' the chilled dough of his flesh' which has been cremated which is replaced by the word 'went in an oven'. In the poem, Harrison deals with the harsh reality of touching on the cremation process. The first two lines of the poem reveal an image of an actual corpse being burned in the process and give the reader an idea of the subject of the poem; namely, Harrison's father -- who is a baker (ivypanda essay). 

When viewed from the point of view of marxist criticism, Harrison's father  is shown to have a good attitude despite being in a low social class where usually people in this class have a strong temper because of the effects of their lack of economic income, this good attitude can be seen through the sentence 'and radiant with the sight of his dead wife,' from how he looks at his wife with beaming eyes and from how he call his wife name. 

'light streaming from his mouth to shape her name,

'not Florence and not Flo but always Florrie.'

But also in that sentence, I think it has another meaning, namely the meaning of the religious side of Harrison's father, which he always mentions his belief or God. Shape her name in my interpretation, it can be calling God or praying by calling her God's name. So I think that here Harrison's father is a very religious person and devout to his religion. 

The phrase "A tongue that weighs like lead" seems to be a metaphor for how Harrison's father felt about the negative words of society that he could not bear. and This sentence is also related to the next sentence. "The baker that no one will ever see rises up and England is made to feel like a stupid fool" so here Harrison's father is seen as a fool which means loser or fool. He is basically disliked by society.

"A tongue that weighs like lead" that sentence also can be meaning that here Harrison is also still trying to challenge his father's belief by saying as if he can only get everything on this earth. until he thought that his father should have abandoned that belief even before he died. But because his father was too religious, He thought that his father was sutter so he only said words that he usually says. 

As I mentioned at the beginning of the analysis, that Harrison's father is in the 3rd social class which may not be ignored by other people or society or is only underestimated so Harrison wrote 'The baker's man that no one will see rise

and England made him feel like some dull oaf' 

that even his father was not considered by others. But instead he became a religious person. Indeed, many people with low social class further strengthen their faith by asking for guidance and being given convenience in their life affairs, including the economy, which they complain to their God. Conversely, many individuals who are in the upper middle class and upper class are increasingly forgetting their God because they feel they don't need God's help, they can produce a large economy with their own performance.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, Harrison is talking about his father in this poem, his father is a baker. In this analysis I put the classes that Harrison's father took in and related it to the attitude and religion that he believes. Harrison's father is in the middle lower class, which is Proletariat that have a position in the lower classes. Although he is placed in a lower class, he still has a good attitude and really believes in her religion and God.  

REFERENCE

1. Berlin, Isaiah. (1963). Karl Marx: His Life and Environment. Third Edition. New York: Oxford University Press.

2. Rachmawati. (2020). Kritik terhadap Konsep Ideologi Komunisme Karl Marx

3. ivypanda essay https://ivypanda.com/essays/marked-with-d-an-adaptation-of-pat-a-cake/

4. bartleby essay https://www.bartleby.com/essay/The-Poem-Of-Marked-With-D-By-FCM6BR4XNR

5. Zulfebriges. Teori Media-Marxist