Marxist Analysis of to Kill A Mockingbird According To Peter Barry

Abstract

Marxism is one of the most important literary theories that study the sociohistoric factors in a literary work. It is very vast theory with many dimensions to cover. The current study is novel analyzed through textual evidences. The study finds that American society was the victim of social injustice, exploitation, racial segregation and class division. The era of novel’s setting is widely known as the era of Great Depression which was marked for economic collapse. Marxist criticism explores the writer’s consciousness about the socio-historic facts and appreciates how writers make these factors the part of literature. There are many overt incidents in the novel that are connected with covert situations. Marxist critics dig out these overt situations and then connect them with covert happenings of the time. For example, the economic suffering of the characters of the novel was connected with the economic downfall of Great Depression and the case of Tom Robinson was manifestation of Scottsboro trial. Barry (1995) suggests this method of study for Marxist analysis and same is applied in this study.