Raymond Williams and Marxist Reading of Sarah Cole

“But it is then an open question whether ‘ideology’ and ‘ideological,’ with their senses of ‘abstraction’ and ‘illusion’ or their senses of ‘ideas’ and ‘theories,’ or even their senses of a ‘system’ of beliefs or of meanings and values, are sufficiently precise and practicable terms for so far-reaching and radical a redefinition.”-Raymond Williams

Williams is concerned with exploring the concept of ‘ideology,’ which is a key component of Marxist beliefs. He traces the origins of the word and the meanings it has come to acquire. In the last sentence of the excerpt from Marxism and Literature, Williams expresses the danger of using such broad terms. He actually calls it “A deliberately degrading vocabulary” and explains how the shortcomings of certain words to express ideas can actually be used to suppress understanding and acceptance of those ideas. Williams says that ideology has a “receive negative form,” which relates to a discussion from Wednesday’s class in which Professor Henkle pointed out that ‘ideology’ is often used with negative connotation in the media. In Williams’ code of beliefs, literature is a vehicle of ideology, which can be used to explore Marxism. He sees ideology as a system of beliefs, a product of man’s thinking, and that many different ideologies exist. Although he doesn’t use Gramsci’s language, he is in effect suggesting that literature is one way in which spontaneous consent can be obtained. Williams feels that Marxism, ideology, and literature are interconnected and that a few catch phrases do not do justice to the intricacies of the concepts.

A Marxist reading of Russell Banks’ “Sarah Cole” entails looking at the broad plot line in which a member of the bourgeoisie, an attractive lawyer, uses a member of the proletariat, a single mother named Sarah Cole who works at a press putting magazines into boxes. The two have a romantic relationship, in which the lawyer is fascinated by Sarah’s lifestyle, which significantly differs from his, although he cannot pinpoint why. When the lawyer refuses to take Sarah out, she accuses him of being ashamed to be seen with her. “You’ll sleep with me, but you won’t go out in public with me,” she says. Eventually, the lawyer says he no longer wishes to see her and discards her like she meant nothing to him. In retrospect he says, “I did not know that I loved her.” The speaker in the story admits, “It’s not as if she has died; it’s as if he has killed her.” Class is an obvious element in the story right from the beginning when the bartender calls the protagonist, “Sir” despite his being a regular at the bar, and it escalates as a mechanism throughout the work. A Marxist reading would point to this romantic story as an illustration of how the bourgeoisie deliberately and knowingly uses the proletariat. Even if they feel remorse, they are too selfish to go outside of their own class interests, as the protagonist demonstrates in the Sarah Cole story.