Why I Chose The Marxist Lens

The Marxist lens interested me greatly for reading the book Beloved for many reasons. I thought that the Marxist lens would be interesting to me because analyzing power, social, and economic class appealed to me. I thought that this would be interesting because of the time period and subject that the author is writing about, slavery. The book, at first glance, would undoubtedly involve slavery in some way shape or form, and social power is vital in that time period in the everyday life of many individuals. This was what first attracted me to the Marxist lens, but my interest grew when I knew that the book involved runaway slaves and their family struggles as well. As depressing as the book appeared, I thought that it would be intriguing to read from the Marxist lens due to the fact that there is an obvious connection to the struggle for power from the slavery end of the story, as well as the work having a specific view on family and societal norms and rules. This lens was more appealing than the other lenses simply due to the fact that a vast majority of the book could be related back to important parts of the Marxist lens. These connections that were, not always so clear to the reader, intrigued me by both challenging my close reading and connecting a relative concept that I have seen before in works to larger notions that I felt added to the significance of the work. I am hoping to understand the societal views and various subverts the work conveys to the reader as I have often wondered what works about slavery truly say about the situation in terms of societal power and norms. I believe that if I read through the Marxist lens, I will better understand the theme and meaning of the work, as well as connecting the work to a broader picture and how it reflects the actual views of both the author and other individuals that lived within the time period.