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2. Theory of Marxism
Marxism is an approach applied in social, political, economic, scientific, and philosophical field. It is strongly political oriented criticism which is derived
from a theory of German social philosopher, Karl Marx, and Frederich Engels, a German sociologist Barry, 2002. Marxism approach can be said as the theory of
Marxism. This theory looks at a progress through struggles from different social classes. The theory is popular as class struggle by competition for economic,
social, and political advantage. Marxism is called as materialist philosophy which has some perspectives
on social class, economy, and how social existence can determine one ’s
awareness. However, Marx and Engels call their economic theories as communist rather than Marxism Barry, 2002. In Communism, private ownership is banned
and changed into state ownership. Moreover, Marxist theory argues that the way of thinking and experiencing the world is largely conditioned by the way of
organising the economy Bertens, 2008, p. 63. Marxism believes that in a communist society, there is a human alienation as a result of exploitation of a
social class by another. As stated by Barry 2002, Marx and Engels have their reverence for great
art and literature in representing the class. Their views are relaxing and non- dogmatic art which means the good art always has a degree of freedom from
many economic circumstances. Thus, Marxism is used to express the social class struggles and clashes of large historical forces. It is supported by Lenin as cited
in Barry, p. 160 that literature must become an instrument of the party. Marxist
12 criticism focuses on contents rather than forms. It has an attention to the idea
about things like economy, class, and power.
a. Theory of Ideology
Theory of ideology is firstly introduced by Althusser 1918-1990, a French Marxist theoretician and philosopher. He introduces the ideology as a key
term for all Marxists. Althusser’s point of view is called revisionist Marxist. He is the most influential person in developing theoretical Marxist about literature. He
views the literary works are closely related to ideology. He claims as cited in Barry, 2002,
―ideology is a system of representations possessing its logic and proper rigour of representations images, myths, ideas or concepts according to
the case endowed with an existence and an historical role at the heart of a
given society‖ p. 163. The society, therefore, gives ideas and production of meanings. Ideology can be
shown to be greater significance than material power. He divides the ideology into repressive structures and ideological
structures. First, the repressive structures which are in the form of institutions law courts, prisons, police force are operated by external force. The repressive
structures sometimes use some physical forces. Second, the ideological structures which are the set of ideas and attitudes of some groups that foster the ideology so
that people are free to choose and state their status quo. Those two structures encourage people to learn and know-how. Know-how is a definition for the
practical matters. It means that in the daily life, people do not realize their lives as a form of class. Their unawareness happens because they are not ideologically
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