Human Personality Theory of psychology .1 Personality

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2.1.6 Marxism Approach

Since this thesis discusses about alienation and oppression, it is important to understand about the Marxist theory of alienation and Marxist perspective on racism. Marxism has been essential to the struggles of anti-colonial independence movements around the world. Marxism provided almost the only legitimate “counter-narrative against the unfettered expansion of capitalist modernity”. Marxism has also introduced concepts such as “alienation and labor exploitation”. It has continually emphasized the “material basis of colonial exploitation”, without denying the existence and importance of the “socio-cultural formations” that both “produced and reproduced the colonial relationship” Hawley, 2001: 293-296. Gilroy states that “oppression. …determines their lives”-“the people who are actually affected by racism” – on one hand and on the other he expounds that “It is not that people … are … incapable of thinking abstractly about the character of the oppression which determines their lives” Gilroy, 1987: 116. Here the “people” are both victims of racism and oppression. The important point is the victims of oppression are alienated. In the book The Marxist Theory of Alienation, Ernest Mandel in his essay, “The causes of Alienation”, states: Alienation results from a certain form of organization of society. More concretely, only in a society which is based on commodity production and only under the specific economic and social circumstances of a market economy, can the objects which we project out of us when we produce acquire a socially oppressive PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 20 existence of their own and be integrated in an economic and social mechanism which becomes oppressive and exploitative of human beings Mandel and Novack, 1970: 16.

2.2 Criticism

Joyce Hart a freelance writer and author of several books discusses the concurrence of power and helplessness that flows through Jean Rhyss novel Wide Sargasso Sea. He argues that although an overall feeling of helplessness permeates Jean Rhyss Wide Sargasso Sea, there is a current of power that lies underneath the surface of the story. Each character, no matter how helpless he or she may seem, is touched by this current. Much like the real Sargasso Sea, whose mysterious forces gather all the wandering seaweed from miles around and hold them together in a haphazard mass, so does this underlying power align Rhyss characters. As each character tries to understand her or his relationship with the other, the surge of power pulsates amidst fear and vulnerability and moves the story forward. Rhyss opening sentence is a perfect example of this juxtaposition of helplessness and power. The novel begins: They say when trouble comes close ranks. Like a pod of whales swimming in the ocean and suddenly realizing danger, the white islanders tightened their circle to strengthen and protect themselves. Dennis Porter for the Massachusetts Review, states that jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea is unlike her other novels with a contemporary setting, because it is based on another work of art Jane Eyre.