According to
Lois Tyson, "[Marxist critical theory] attempts to reveal the ways in which our
socioeconomic system is the ultimate source of our experience." Marxist critical theory
often interrogates economic systems by looking at relationships between classes.
The primary relationship in the story is between overeducated and unemployed Joy/Hulga,
who is middle class, and her nemesis, the enterprising Bible salesman Manley Pointer, who is
working class. Hulga thinks her education and background make her superior to Manley, but since
"[t]rue genius can get an idea across even to an inferior mind," she decides to seduce
him out of boredom or perversity. However, Manley teaches her a real lesson by stealing her
prosthetic leg and her glasses.
Another relationship is between Hulga's
mother Mrs. Hopewell and her tenant farmer's wife, Mrs. Freeman. A Marxist criticism of this
story would find this relationship equally interesting because of the unequal power dynamic
between Mrs. Hopewell and...
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