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- Title
Marxist Reading of Ernest J Gaines's Of Love and Dust and A Gathering of Old Men.
- Authors
Jayapal, C.; Ravichandran, K.
- Abstract
Ernest J Gaines was born on river lake plantation near Oscar, Louisiana, in Point Coupee Parish on January 15, 1933. He started to work as a potato picker at the age of nine, earning fifty cents a day. Poverty became centrifugal in all his works as he grew up with problem of food, education, and attained it through hard work. Gaines' work clearly tells the social, political, and economical position of African American people in South Louisiana. The ideology of Marxism is taken as a tool to interpret his novels to explore the pathos of the poor, labourer, voiceless and slave. This paper aims at analysing of Gaines's the subjugation of poor blacks by the racist white society. Of Love and Dust and A Gathering of Old Men , show how the central theme of his fiction revolves around the rich and poor, owner and labour conflicts. Each work depicts the common strivings of the disenfranchised, the control of subservient labour by the majority class, and the subsequent revisiting of folk culture that helps to foster the leadership of subordinated and generate a change. As Gaines writes openly and passionately about the proletariat, the most critical aspect of each work in this study is the impact of Marxist reading upon black labour - especially Cajuns and poor blacks. It has the human action and its effect on society is constructed by imperialistic behaviour. Additional to this scrutiny there are various levels of class struggles and emphasis on a changing social system. Gaines's, ultimate message of human equality to achieve true manhood finds similarity with Marxist ideology.
- Subjects
GAINES, Ernest J., 1933-2019; AFRICAN American authors; MARXIST philosophy; OF Love &; Dust (Book); GATHERING of Old Men, A (Book); STORY plots; EQUALITY in literature
- Publication
Labyrinth: An International Refereed Journal of Postmodern Studies, 2013, Vol 4, Issue 2, p118
- ISSN
0976-0814
- Publication type
Article