The Class Sruggle: Victimization of Lower Class Men and Women

This study focuses on the victimization of men and women of lower class who are exploited by the powerful based on their wealth and ‘material production’ which leads the ‘subordinate classes to engage in a struggle for economic, political, and social advantage’. It can be said that Marxist theory in some way or the other is associated with the workers movement as some critics of Marxism have mentioned this association. The main prospect of Marxism is made the targets of money, which justifies an individual’s class and status in a society.

The study here uses some bit of ideas collectively from Marxist theories of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, George Lukacs, Louis Althusser, and Vladimir Lenin and their relation with class struggle in the discussion. Some of the theories discussed below have been used in chunks towards the development of the study. To be more specific about this Marxist theory of class struggle it must bring up the important notions to the understanding of Marxist - Leninist conception of class struggle. It believed in the maintenance of the important concept of ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’. According to this theory, class struggle in relation to the, “state every democracy is a dictatorship. Capitalism is the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and socialism will be the dictatorship of the proletariat; but they cannot be equated: The bourgeois democracy is the dictatorship of a minority of exploiters, but the proletarian democracy will be the dictatorship of a majority of workers and exploited; moreover, their goals are not the same. The bourgeois democracy combats to maintain its positions, while the proletarian democracy fights only for its further transformation, and in these combats the state is used as a means but again in different ways”.

In support of the above theory the French Marxist theoretician Louis Althusser asserts that the ‘democratic mind of the proletariat is more honest than the bourgeois one’. Because he wants to make the point clear that the bourgeois can go to any length in order to see the degradation of the proletariat and the further instance of this is they allowed the access of democracy to the proletariat but then in a partial manner. Thus the overall discussion clarifies that there is no security of the proletariats even from democracy hence they have to rely on their own abilities in a capitalist society. So it can be said that the proletariats still exist in societies and so thus class struggle. This class struggle will find new forms but the fundamental issue will still be the same: Capitalistic relations of production and exploitation of the weaker section. Class struggle has also associations with the concept Ideology, which is a key concept of Marxist theory. Political unconsciousness in Marxism is called Ideology: “Human consciousness is constituted by an ideology – that is, the beliefs, values, and ways of thinking and feeling through which human beings perceive, and by recourse to which they explain, what they take to be reality. An ideology is, in complex ways, the product of the position and interests of a particular class. In any historical era, the dominant ideology embodies, and serves to legitimize and perpetuate, the interests of the dominant economic and social class” (pg 203-4, M.H. Abrams). Another concept proposed by Bertolt Brecht in Marxist criticism studies is the ‘alienation effect’. He borrowed this concept from Russian Formalist’s defamiliarization. In the context of the present study the concept has been used to show the alienation and distancing of emotional sympathy between relations in a social setup.
All the theories mentioned above have been engaged to some extent in the work.

Since the topic of the study is very clumsy yet diverse but then as its main focus is about the approach of class struggle in relation to Marxism. The few of the books mentioned below have been a great source of enlightenment in the further discussion of certain aspects of Marxism in the proposed arguments of the novels. Karl Marx offered a great help to the understanding of Capitalism, socialism, class struggle, wage laborer also alienation. Although he book have been divided in several volumes but the overall concept of the book is related to the exploitation of the working class by transferring them into commodities by the capitalist class. Its rootedness in social realities in global a global scale makes it worth a theoretical text. Marx in the book also proposes a scope of reforming these social and economic politics that have its beginning in pre-ancient times.

Toni Morrison is a writer who takes liberty to mention the prevailing concerns of classism and oppression in American society. Although the impact of racism is greater in her African American writings, this paper tries to address the victimization of the lower class (proletariat) in the hands of the powerful. The present discussion however is an attempt to explore the concerns for identity through the construction of experience of her characters. This two novels along with her other novels tries to present the individual lives of people, their hopes and fear in relation to the experience of slavery in a capitalist society where material succession is the grounding truth.

The study is concerned about a Marxist theory of class struggle therefore it presents the main agenda of Marxism that is to create a classless society where there could be equal and similar control of material possession and welfare. Although to attain this was never easy therefore throughout history Marxism witnesses the gradual development which is arising due to the struggle for power in varied social classes which is creating the barrier even greater day by day in struggle for economic, social and political stability in the competitive world. This clash between the social classes leads to the victimization and manipulation of the lower class by the powerful class which is more or less evident in the modern era of industrial capitalism. The outcome of these humiliations is not only faced in commercial fields only but also by the workers who were working in the households for some amount of wages hence the consequence of this is that it created more ‘alienation’ in the relationship between the worker and the master or to say between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie in particular. However, it should be kept in mind that this study is about class struggle on a large scale including both the whites and non-whites comparatively regardless of Morrison’s projection of the black presences in both the novels.

In the discussion the study would deal with Toni Morrison’s two novels – Tar Baby (1981) and A Mercy (2008). A brief description to the stories of the two novels by Morrison consecutively have been given below. Tar Baby is Morrison’s fourth novel where she talks about two major characters. One is Jadine, a graduate whereas her opposite character is Son, a runaway criminal who is uncivilized unlike Jadine. Morrison here represents a love affair between these two black characters, who comes from two distinct world. Jadine is a beautiful fashion model and a graduate from the Sorbonne, Art Historian who has been financially supported and also received family advantages by a well to do family called Streets- where Jadine’s only aunt and uncle worked as domestic household servants. Unlike Jadine, Son is though fortuneless and a criminal on run but he is strong willed and passionate person who unknowingly reaches into the Caribbean mansion of the Streets in the Caribbean island. The story takes a different turn when Jadine and Son becomes more close ultimately falling for each other. With these there arises many revelations and breaks the disjunct family even far worse. While Jadine and Son takes a drastic step in between the chaos and lands up in the United States. However the main crises arises after they both flees in search of a home which can held them together, in the States which is very difficult to attain in a land which demands rough labour, struggle and compromise from the people like Jadine and Son.

The second novel is A Mercy, which is the ninth of Morrison’s novel amongst her other unique creations. The novel is about slavery in America. The narrative revolves around the lives of the slaves working in rural Milton, New York farm of Jacob Vaark. By profession he was a trader who eventually ends up in slave trade as he brings the protagonist of the novel Florens from a debtor in his farm. The main reason that he brought her is to please his wife Rebekka as she was going through a hard time because of the death of their children’s. In the novel, the character Rebekka also had a past as she came on a ship from England to marry Jacob whom she never knew and met before. Thus she did many compromises to become settle in a new house with unknown people. However she had Lina another Native American who worked as a laborer in the farm. They both shared a good mutual bonding in the farm. Lina was like a surrogate mother to Florens In the farm we also come across a character named Sorrow whom Lina disliked the most. The life of these people in the farm goes upside down from the death of the master Vaark and then the mistress suffering from small pox disease. Although for Florens it was her turning point in life as she was allowed to go out from the farm in search of a blacksmith who could cure the mistress to life. Morrison through the novel depicts a dark side of slavery that these characters had suffered from.

In both the novels Tar Baby and A Mercy the growing concerns of capitalism and material succession is observed. Morrison in Tar Baby exhibits varied criticism of capitalism. This growing concern of succession can be directly linked up with Karl Marx’s philosophy regarding this pursuit, “What individuals are … coincides with their production both with what they produce and how they produce” (Marx and Engels). So bringing in Marx’s book Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (1867 – 94) the study can internalize the concept of commodification, the market value and also the labor theory of value in the context of Tar Baby, when Morrison puts her disappointment with capitalism through the juxtaposition of Capitalist Valerian and Socialist Son with reference to L’Arbe de la Croix owned by Valerian and Jadine’s obsession to the ‘fur coat’ which shows the so called consumerist attitude of the ruling class.

Being a Marxist thinker George Lukacs comments: “the commodity relation… stamps its imprint upon the whole consciousness of man”. Based on this we can assert that it’s not the only products that can be commodified but also feelings and emotions, more than that it can structure a man’s thought process in the world according to the Marxist prejudices. While in the novel we come across Jadine commodifying her body in the market premises and Valerian’s hope in the trade value. The novel focuses on the various relationships in the attractive Caribbean household cum mansion beginning from the relationship between the couple Sydney and Ondine Childs who are the butler and the maid of the household and the relationship between the owner of the mansion L’Arbe de la Croix Valerian Street and his much younger wife Margaret and also the relationship between the two native outdoor yard workers, Gideon and Therese. However the central focus of the novel is in the relationship between Jadine Childs, a European educated successful fashion model and Son an American black from the small town of Florida.

The setting of the house in the opening of the novel itself suggests a clear gesture of Marxian capitalist ideology: “to own a big, cozy home, is a capitalist ideology” (M S Nagarajan, 226). As the grand and elaborate description of the house connects this to that “It had been designed by a brilliant Mexican artist … the windowsills and door saddles were carved lovingly to perfection….’the most handsomely articulated and blessedly unrhetorical house in the Caribbean’” (Tar Baby, 10-11). This description of the house as a ‘hotel’ gives a clear relevance to the capitalist ideology of commodifying sine Valerian boasts himself as the ‘owner’ and ‘operator’ of the hotel. Simultaneously, Valerian’s jokes about the Christmas plans that the house looks like a ‘train’ giving the house qualities of commodity that it is like a market place where people comes and goes every time is a fact that its less a home and more a mode of commodifying which carries market value can be added to the former. This is how the bourgeoisies objectify things in and around them.

Beginning from the relationship of Valerian with his wife Margaret where it can be related to Marxist theory of capitalism and class struggle even at a heightened level. Valerian in the novel is a true capitalist and a bourgeois by consciousness. He uses his money to impress others. So he buys expensive clothes for Margaret and pays Jadine’s college tuition. We notice his oppressive tone and class remarks to his wife in the house during the dinner hour which shows her insecurities of her class in the past: “She was usually safe with soup; anything soft or liquid required a spoon….It came to her in a flash –oysterettes- and she had dipped her spoon happily in to the soup but had hardly begun when Valerian complained” (Tar Baby, 63). Valerian is truly a ruler in the relationship since he keeps an eye on whatever Margaret does starting from her bond with Ondine the maid who’s status doesn’t match hers and so he puts a stop to their relationship saying ‘she should guide the servants not consort with them’. Later to his comment to her when she calls guests in the Christmas without his concern that Margaret was there to follow his orders and therefore must not ‘defy’ his any constructed rules for the people in the household. It clearly shows his dominating attitude to his wife and the people in and around him. When Valerian was in his early seventies he saw Margaret who was in her early forties he desired her since she looked like ‘the principle beauty of Maine’. Even the food in the novel represented a certain class in the novel. However there is other instances which justifies Valerian’s capitalist tendencies, as his name was named after the candy “Valerians” set up by his uncles and the appearance of Margaret resembled that candy: 'She was all red and white, like the Valerians” this shows his obsession with capitalism that he sees himself as the commodity hence he saw his own image in her as the commodity and owned her. Although Margaret faced oppression under Valerian, it could never erase the reality that she was also a true bourgeoisie in nature while treating their son, Michael as a commodity for her own purpose.

Likewise the relationship of Jadine and Son also depended on the philosophy of commodity and market value in the novel. As the first appearance of Son to Jadine was not so impressive and more of a ‘savage’ and ‘ugly’ which shows her class consciousness and believes her status is above Son. But as soon as she sees the man “in a white shirt unbuttoned at the cuffs and throat…he was gorgeous” at once her attitude towards him changed since he now equals her status. More than that to her most attractive was the fact that he was wearing the branded “Hickey Freeman and a little Paco Rabanne” so she seemed “impressed and relieved by his looks” which also clarifies that she was interested in the trademarks more than the man. Being a fashion model in the United States it is clear that Jadine applied an exchange value on her body in the fashion market. She uses her body as a mode of capitalist commodification and sold her body pictures to the magazine called Elle and received money in return. It suggests that she was no different than Valerian who in an argument with Sydney calls his own son “company” to which Sydney replies “It’s your own Son. Michael’s not a company”. Jadine was so obsessed with consumerist capitalism life that she even fetishizes with the “fur coat” send to her by a person called Ryk. This is a literal example of Jadine’s fascination with commodity as if the fur coat was capable of giving her sexual pleasure resulting in alienation of her with the outside world.
Jadine in the novel also alienates herself from the cultural heritage and starts adopting white values which would suit her status in society. As Son brings out this motif of her by saying that she should stop acting like a white superior lady and start behaving like what she really are startles her and she felt a kind of identity threat. This is further seen when she visits Son’s birth place Eloe in Florida when she sees the other people in the place as rural, poor and uneducated. Despite the fact that her cultural roots goes back to these people she despises. Thus, racism and sexism, although equally oppressive, are treated as byproducts of capitalism in Tar Baby.

The proletariat or the situation of the working class in the novel was more seen through the couples Sydney and Ondine Childes and through Gideon and Therese. From the opening pages of the novel we see that Ondine and Sydney are indebted to Valerian Street since he was patronizing all the money for their niece Jadine Childes. So they would always be at the mercy of Valerian. However Valerian and Sydney seemed to share a friendly butler/master relationship but at times Valerian reminds Sydney of his position that he is just a butler and can be replaced if goes out of his commands: “….And maybe then I could hire somebody who wouldn’t keep things from me…” Even Margaret remarks that servants should work according to what they are said “They tell us what to eat. Who’s working for who?”. This is further seen in the conflict of Christmas evening when Ondine slapped Margaret, which was an act above her social status and she demanded that the kitchen was hers more than Margaret which makes Valerian frown at her: “Your kitchen? Your help?”. There are also instances when Gideon and Therese were subjected to the similar kind of oppression as to when they both were fired from the job by Valerian 'Two people are going to starve' just because they stole some apple from the house. From this it is clear that Morrison’s emphasis in Tar Baby is on class struggle — the struggle between the ruling class and the subject class.

It is also true that some lower class like Ondine, Sydney and Jadine Childes wishes to be like these ruling class at power as in the context of the novel as to when Sydney boasted in front of Son, “I am a Phil-a-delphia Negro mentioned in the book of the very same name…. while yours were still cutting their faces open so as to be able to tell one of you from the other”. This is again seen in the beginning chapter when Ondine judges Margaret’s desire to eat mangoes: “Even the colored people down here don’t eat mangoes”. To which Sydney replies only “beggars” and the “yardman” can eat mangoes. Classism is found at different levels in the text as Gideon was called “Yardman” by everyone in the house, including Ondine and Sydney, a general derogatory term for the poor black population of Queen of France. No one knows his real name. And both the women were called “Mary,” for no one has any interest in their real names either. Ondine shows her irritation that she cannot give Gideon a written list of chores and errands because he is illiterate, so she gives him an oral list instead which was a typical act to show her social upbringing than these people and that they represented the African petty bourgeois. Even their surnames symbolize the fact that they are really the Child’s of Valerian inheriting his class and capitalist ideologies. Son in the novel emphasizes on the socialist value unlike the dwellers of L’Arbe de la Croix. He is the antithesis of Toni Morrison as he is a man who judges people equally not in terms of wealth and qualification. This we see in his debates with Jadine for calling Gideon a ‘Yardman’ instead of calling by his name. Whatever the status of Gideon and Therese was he had established a good connection with them. On the Christmas evening he showed his affection for both the couples Gideon/Therese, and Sydney/Ondine as he deliberately speaks up for Gideon and Therese’s removal from the work by Valerian while he gave Sydney and Ondine to dine with the family together despite the difference between a master and a servant. More than that he tried his best to alter Jadine’s ideologies and gave her true picture to the condition of their people however she instead chose to be guarded in the liberal life supported by Valerian. However there is not given any clear cut response from the text that his socialist values defeated Valerian and Jadine’s capitalist values. Because the dictatorship of the proletariat demands collective energy which Son alone can never up bring.

Toni Morrison’s A Mercy is also an attempt to the aspects discussed above. In the novel there are traces of capitalistic fervor and its connection to classism in the presentation of Characters like Jacob Vaark, D’Ortega and through the portrayal of the Rebekka’s character is observed. Just like Valerian Street here Jacob Vaark also carries the same mentality and wishes to own a big house just like D’Ortega’s, the owner of ‘Jublio’ plantation in the novel. However both Jacob and D’Ortega behold capitalistic mentality we see that D’Ortega’s status is much above a ‘gentleman’ than Jacob Vaark because he was a farmer and latter became a trader. As in his narratives from the novel we come to know about “his previous dealings with this estate had been with the owner’s clerk….A trader asked to dine with a gentleman?”, points that classism exists in the text since Morrison emphasizes that there is a clear class division between the owner’s class and the trader’s. So we find that being an orphan Jacob is not a gentry like D’Ortega but he dreams to possess wealth like Ortega however he dies at end of the novel and could not live in the big house he made. However he is a true capitalist since he shows his hypocrisy first narrating that “flesh was never his commodity” then accepting the deal with Ortega he said “you said ‘any’. I could choose any…” and later his ideology of a slave as a commodity “not if I can’t use her”, end the deal with choosing Florens in exchange of the debt shows his true capitalist ideologies. More than that the patriarch Jacob probably was the reason behind Sorrow’s pregnancy since the narrative never clarifies the person behind her sexual exploitation. However, Rebekka at the beginning remained obedient and virtuous but after the death of the producer she became hostile and tried to commodify her servants as a capitalist villainess. Just like Margaret making her own son a plaything for herself.

This classism is more highlighted through the suffering of the slaves and the labors in Jacob’s farm. No matter what color they belong to economic instability and class increased their suffering more. Beginning from the mistress, Jacob’s wife Rebekka in the discussion it can be seen how her lower class status brought her to a new world which she probably never thought of. Just like Margaret in Tar Baby Rebekka’s character can be juxtaposed in the paper. As a poor girl she was abandoned by their parents to marry Jacob Vaark for the sake of money. Here we see how Jacob offers a market value on Rebekka turning her into a commodity bride. Although different struggles the characters go through in the novel but their plight occurs from the same lower class status in the novel. Therefore, they can connect to each other through their sufferings and class boundaries as Rebekka observes the prostitutes in the ship and feels pity for their condition unlike hers who have been sold to become a mistress of a farm. This connection which overrules class order’s can be seen in her relationship with Lina the house maid too: “Together, by trial and error they learned; what kept the foxes away; how and when to handle and spread manure…” Despite being a mistress and a servant they have managed to retain a reasonable relationship between them since Lina became a good help to her when she arrived at the farm. However, in Tar Baby, this mutual bonding could never take place between Margaret and Ondine not because they have been denied by Valerian but probably because they never tried more than that. This relevance of same class oppression Rebekka also relates with the whores with whom she journeyed as the lower class passengers in the ship are given in “Light and weather streamed from a hatch; a tub for waste sat beside a keg of cider; a basket and a rope where food could be let down and the basket retrieved”. This shows Morrison’s observation on the dehumanizing conditions of the lower class people and how ill treated they are including Rebekka who later becomes the slave mistress is a contrasting effect in the novel.

Moreover there are similarities between the character Jadine, Ondine and Sydney in Tar Baby to the character named Blacksmith. Although he don’t have a name in the novel his attitude to his social status he feels is above Florens’ in the text: “marry, own things, travel, sell his own labor”. Although Florens and the Blacksmith belonged to the same race there is a certain kind of differences in their status since Florens is a case of enslavement whereas he could not be bounded like the other slaves. Because by profession he is a craftsman and also possesses traditional healing knowledge and therefore he is superior in status from Florens. This may be the reason that he abandons Florens despite having a physical relationship with her. This is similar to the abandonment of their people by Sydney, Ondine and Jadine in Tar Baby. Apart from that the relationship of Jadine and Son also ends in a similar violent manner just like Florens and the Blacksmith’s.

In A Mercy similarly one character alone can never defeat the bourgeoisie mentality of the people. The lower class people must come together to fight the social inequalities. This is the reason that Florens act of protest by hitting the orphaned child though dehumanizing but a grotesque act of sheer hatred to the oppressors. But as there are so many diversions and lack of mutuality among the people of the same class the novel probably fails to show the hidden voices hitting back the dominant voices in person.

Thus the paper can be concluded by surmising that it had tried to explore economic instability which leads to class struggle. Money and status creates social injustice and dehumanization of human being at large scale. It also somehow discussed how dangerous different ideologies could be in the context of achieving certain kind of success in life. The paper has also managed to show that this pursuit of capitalism and status leads to alienation and loss of human values putting relations at stake. Although we see some scattered values of socialism that could not be completely attained in the argument as the impact of classism and capitalism was too power throughout the narratives of the novels. The paper to some extent have been able to probe the point that though Morrison take in consideration the racism aspect in this two novels, there are clear presence of both the non-white and white subjugation based on their social class. Therefore keeping the racism constraints apart it is found that the pursuit of attaining individual identity by the marginal characters in the novels remained partial and incomplete