Thesis Statement 9 examples
(Bruce Robbins, They dont much
count, do they?: The Unfinished History of The Turn
of the Screw)
In his essay, using The Turn of the Screw as an illustration, Robbins
reveals the mechanism which
enables the existence of social hierarchy without conflict among the classes,
or dialectical materialism: the class role of the governess shifts
between two modes, the ruling and ruled classes (master and servants); squeezed
between two antithetical groups, she possesses the Cinderella desire
for the upper class, and being above servants, she assumes a protective role
of her own and, subsequently, masters share in the ownership of power
from those who dont much count. --Iana
Marxist Criticism, Bruce Robbins:
A Marxist reading of The Turn of the Screw gives reason for the ambiguity
in the conversation between the governess and Mrs. Grose: because they are both
representatives of particular classes, the ambiguity they employ or are at the
mercy of is a socially produced ambiguity, meaning that "[p]ower and hierarchy
interrupt what can be said, forcing communication into obscure and roundabout
illusions'" (287); they are bound by certain social restrictions to say
only that which is appropriate for them to say
and are, therefore, silenced, in effectbarred from true communication with each
other not because of ability but because of status.--Melissa
Robbins mentions that "If one looks at the text with class in mind, one sees..." so and so--and this is a major limitation of Marxist criticism, that it sets up class conflict as an external center to the text and proceeds to compare and morally judge any internal ideologies to this center, running recklessly over subtleties and other possible, equally valid meanings. --JiM