Gramsci and literature

As the revolutionary movements of the working class people comes to failure, Gramsci sought to find as to why the theory of Marx couldn’t be realized. He then proposed the concept of hegemony in which the importance of ideology and culture and the dynamics of it within the society was stressed as crucial component in achieving society that Marx thought of as ideal. While Marxism had weaknesses within itself, Gramsci attempted to find them and saw that it was more of an abstract sort of thing that was to be seemingly the main reason for the failure of the movement. According to Gramsci, what governed people’s thought most was culture and ideology that was dominant in the society they were living in. Hence, as the dominance of the culture was in control of the group of bourgeois, it was inevitable that those that were subordinate had to be under the control of them also. By means of media, it was easily accessible in terms of influencing the thought and mind of those in the lower level of the society. Gramsci, therefore thought that it was important that lower working class people have their own ideology and culture, apart from what's dominant in the society, set in their minds. And in order to do so, an intellectual with interest of people in mind has to be among them to lead and influence accordingly. By stressing on the fact that it was the mind that played as an ultimate force, Gramsci tried to explain that through more realistic and logical approach that he suggested, people can achieve what was once left as unrealistic, a mere ideology.

After reading Marxist readings, I again saw, how works of literatures can sometimes attain power to govern person’s mind, as if a form of propaganda. Through the works that I have been given to read, though different in terms of the form that it has been written, the impression that I have received was altogether strong. From certain words that the authors each used and the tone of the voice was all an instrument in trying to imply particular notion besides just the contents itself. Also, the way they each have interpreted the texts such as “Great Expectation,” and the story of the red-nosed reindeer, showed me how their view on particular subject or object, in perspective of Marxist, differed radically. As to Dickens himself, though I’m not sure whether he was a Marxist or not, when the author himself was effective in telling the stories, through using his personal experience, as in the case of “Great Expectation,” the work itself seemed to be all the more powerful in influencing the mind of people who were able to relate themselves to the story they have read. While literatures can provide certain enjoyment, it can also be interpretated and used against, or for certain ideology, thus posing itself as possible danger or an effective tool, depending on how you look at it.