Rigid journey Essay Example for Free

Rigid journey EssayIt was a rigid journey that started with cardinal voices and that cease with one. One is the voice of importeeless modernity. Disjointed and syncopated, this voice hopes to fit in with the norm, tirelessly finding meaning done misconstrued words. The other is the voice of an ailing past as it throw togethers to keep up with the present. It is the words of manufacturing and myth, lost in the humdrum of everyday animation.Coming in contact through an unexpected dialogue, these two voices collide but, further on, reveal their similarities in order to address the issues of their looming futures. Jonathan Safran Foers critically-successful debut novel Everything is illuminated relishes in these two voices, speaking to its readers in dual tones as a metaphor of the different perspectives that burn up from a problem of identity that epitomizes this generation a generation fraught by issues brought about by concerns of industry, capitalism, and materialism.Par t memoir, part travelogue, this novel primarily chronicles the travels of Jonathan Foer, a recent Jewish-Ameri rump writer of the same name as the author, who attempts to re face his grandfathers life in Ukraine and discover the woman who had saved him from appargonnt effect in the hands of Nazi soldiers. To make his bring out remotely easier, he employs the help of Heritage Tours, a tour company that specializes in aiding Jewish-Americans retrace their roots in the Old Country.His guide and translator for this trip is Alex Perchov, a Ukrainian of the same age who is utterly enraptured by the American subtlety that hit the States worshipped shores and becoming an accountant is all he has ever dreamed about. on with the ride be Alexs Grandfather, their supposedly blind driver, and his gather ining-eye bitch Sammy Davis Junior, Junior. But, Foer, the author, overly incorporates a second and three narrative amidst this assdrop of identity-searching.One, told in Jonathans voi ce, tells the story of his Grandfathers shtetl or t take in, TrachimBrod, its f equal to(p)d prep ar and translucent fall during World War II. We can initially perceive the novel as a seeming coming-of-age story that finds its hollow out in the retelling of the happenings of the Holocaust and its evident impact on its Jewish survivors and their kin. But, it to a fault echoes of the capitalist ideologies that define our era and how it has come to mold our youth, as seen through the depiction of Jonathan and Alex.With this in mind, this news report aims to create an understanding of the hegemony within the text edition through the use of Marxist literary criticism. An Overview of Marxism and the Communist pronunciamento At the heart of Marxism lies the struggle between secernes, a definitive clash of ideologies brought about by the deal over the right of part. It is primarily a critique of the current Industrial Age night club, wherein an apparent departure between the gro wing bourgeois elucidate and the working class began to be noticeable.Promulgated by Karl Marx in the early nineteenth century, Marxism finds its roots in the analysis of the source of power, the base of power, within a society and how this societal class determines the course of production within a society (Marx and Engels 1848). Heralded as the core ideology of Communism, it is a politically-driven social theory that deems to see that the proletariat be considered a class, that the reigning bourgeois be overthrown, and that political power should be reverted to the proletariat (Marx, Engels, and Jones 15).Applied to literature, Marxism becomes a critique of the social structures and the denominate of authority found in the text, as concocted by the writers own perceptions of the history of class within the novel. The Communist bible, Karl Marxs Communist Manifesto, co-written by Frederick Engels, calls the proletariat to arms in what they see as a social revolution un worry any other. They deem that Capitalist rulings of the working class as exploitative, seeing these people merely as dispensable commodity to yield production.They deem the middle class as state of the abolition of individuality and freedom (22). They narrate series of possible events to the dissolution of the middle class that would mean the rise of the proletariat and the erasure of any other remnants of the feudalist system (Marx and Engels 17). Over-all, it is deemed that the only answer to a social revolution is the forcible overthrow of the present reigning base of power, the denouncement of past social conditions, and the creation of a strong network of representative that would protect the individual rights of working men and women.A Dichotomy of Roles What makes Foers novel a definite stand-out in the literary scene is its experimentation with be and its boundless potentials. For his novel, he follows three narratives as told by the two primary characters of the text, Jonathan a nd Alex. Placed in the stage setting of Marxism, there is an evident inner struggle between the two characters that is representative of their own social statuses and how they bring home the bacon to deal with the issues specific to it.According to Marxs groundbreaking treatise, society as a whole is much and much splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes facing all(prenominal) other Bourgeoisie and Proletariat (Marx and Engels 9). Although, most may deem this social division as outdated, it unsounded reveals much about our current social structure that expected. In our globalized view, such structure can instanter be attributed to finiss dominating over each other, cultures that manipulate the flow of international relations given the power they retain through their economic superioritya system that Marx had initially suspected.As with todays society, American culture (though flailing amidst the rise of new economic powers) remains the power base a nd controls much of the populaces economic activity, and hence, becomes the source of all human institutions and ideologies, or what Marx calls, the superstructure. With this power behind them, the base is able to influence the direction that society is driven to, characterizing each element as they see fit. Evident in the novel is undisputed hegemony of American culture as presented through the character of Alex.Ensnared by the allure of bullion and progress, Alex is the quintessential American wanna be. He is driven to create an image of himself that is allegedly reminiscent of this culture a womanizer, an excessive spender, a big talker. Evidence of this fascination with American culture can also be read in page 69 wherein Alex speaks with Jonathan over dinner and bombards him with questions about American life Are there good accounting schools? Are there Negro accountants? How much is the coffee there (Foer 69)? All the answers elicit an excitement for this prevailing culture, all the more pushing Alex to value it more than he does his own. In a letter to Jonathan written purportedly after the his visit to Ukraine, he mentions that he is salve up to go to the States, and that in order to save money (despite his Fathers belief that he isnt so), he stays at the beach and just thinks. He thinks that Jonathan is so lucky (52). These ideas of American culture, the American Dream, are in fact disseminated through the film medium as presented in the text when Alex says I dig American movies (2). It is, in essence, a diluted imagery of what American culture is like as shown through the limited capacity of film. Gone are seemingly politically correct ideologies and from the reward point of Alexs restricted viewpoint of American culture we see the flaws of a race and sexual urge divided structure. It is also necessary to note the importance of the Alexs use of wording in the text. His language is a mix of profundity and slang in an attempt to sound as American as possible, but failing miserably to communicate what he actually means in the process.His misconstrued language echoes the attempt of the working class to attain a level of equality with the bourgeois (American culture), but unsuccessfully doing so because the line that says the two arenas can never be crossed. Alexs character, in this sense, epitomizes the proletariat desire to have an amount of power (how miniscule) it might be from the dominating bourgeois by inculcating themselves within a culture created by the elite. When he took on the role of translate for Jonathan, Alex believed it to be an unordinary (Foer 2) experience.By taking on this Americanized per boya, Alex believes he is setting himself apart from a family of three Alexs, from his own culture. He yearns to depart from his class and seek a brighter one in another. But, I believe, that this is the tragedy of Alex. He deems to create for himself a new personality, an individuality, but through the acceptance of another ideological structure that might even be stronger and far more chancy than the one he opts to leave behind. This is, as what Marx says, is a sense of false consciousness (Eagleton 103).People are conditioned by the material world to accept certain ideas and beliefs as objective fact. They misunderstand their spatial relation and the meaning of their position. (Progreba 2). On the other hand, we see Jonathan who departs from the States and its culture to find his roots in Ukraine. Armed with the catch of his grandfather and the picture of the woman who rescued him, he embarks on a journey to understand his woolly identity. Whereas, Alex looks at the American culture as one that would finally define him, Jonathan temporarily denounces it and searches for it in his history.This is evident in his chronicle of the history of his grandfathers little village. But, similar to Alex, he finds fascination in a culture other than his own and looks up to it as a medium to understand his own identity. By narrating the events that led to the destruction of the village, from its establishment and his grandfather, Safrans, rescue from the Nazis, Jonathan communicates with his past and forms a dialogue with it. For both young men, this search for identity traces itself to their yearning to reclaim their place in a society that alienates them.According to Marxist theory, the capitalist society alienates people in three different levels first, the histrion is alienated from what he produces second, the worker is alienated from himself and third, the worker is alienated from society. The work of the proletarians has lost all their individual character, and consequently all pick up for the workman. He becomes an appendage of the machine, and it is only the most simple, most monotonous, and most easily acquired knack that is required of him (Marx and Engels 14). Jonathan, who has taken a leave of absence from university, finds himself at a loss regarding his future g oals in life, some of which are imposed on him by the requirements of his social circle fame and fortune. By following these, he would have to let go of his roots, of his own identity, and deliver products as what society needs of him. Hence, he finds his travel to Ukraine an opportunity for soul-searching, a method to deliver himself from the constraints of social responsibilities and discover his own potential as a person.When Alex questions Jonathan about his yearnings to be a writer, Jonathan answers him half-heartedly, as if questioning even his own decision to take on this career (Foer 69). But, by the middle of the novel, as implied in one of Alexs letters to Jonathan, he had gone on back to university to pursue this career, perhaps already with an inkling of his own identity discovered during his visit in Ukraine. Alex, on the other hand, seeks deliverance in American culture. He detests his Father who bullies him and his miniature brother, Little Igor.He yearns to separate himself from this abusive authority and find solace in a culture that is free and progressive. We can view his Father and their travel company in the Marxist context as the Capitalist. Their company, Heritage Tours, having been a family business for three generations ties Alex intensely to the family that he hopes to leave behind. As his mother had said, she is extremely proud that her son had decided to taking the responsibility of acting as a guide for the Jewish boy rather of wallowing around doing nothing and wasting money (Foer 2).Marxist theory also expands on the notion of a counter-hegemonic culture that should be developed in order to retaliate against the prevailing social norms as proclaim by the ruling class. Essentially, the novel revolves around this, as with any text that centers on a search for identity and individuality. Alex and Jonathan both are at war with their societies which is why they seek to find it another, whether in more direct forms (like Jonathans) o r discreetly (like Alexs). There remains, in the story of these two individuals, a definite struggle to fight against hegemony and the norm.Conclusion The third narrative, as we have mentioned, are letters from Alex to Jonathan, still written in the same manner as he had spoken to us in his usual narrative. These letters, from mere countersign of their positions in life finally show the kind of relationship these two young men are able to foster. They are the acceptance of their brotherhood amidst the flurry of modern life, amidst the demands of their social classes and their inherent responsibilities. But, most importantly, as the novel proves, it serves as an insight into a quiet counter-revolution that prevails today.Works Cited Eagleton, Terry. Criticism and Ideology A contemplate in Marxist Literary Theory. William Clowes Ltd. Suffolk, Great Britain. 2006 Foer, Jonathan Safran. Everything is Illuminated. Houghton Mifflin Books New York, New York. 2002 Jones, Gareth Stedman. Introduction. The Communist Manifesto. Penguin Books Ltd. USA, 1967 Marx, Karl and Frederick Engels. The Communist Manifesto. Socialist dig Party of America. 2006. Retrieved from http//www. marxism. net/pdf/marx/comm_man. pdf