Quiz and Essay Prompts

Marxism Quiz

1. Who started Marxism?

A. Terry Eagleton C. Karl Marx

B. Bruce Robbins D. Michel Foucault

 

2. What is the “base” or “infrastructure” of society according to Marxism?

A. Finances C. History

B. Science D. Economics

 

3. Fill in the blank: “______________ is not the source of social forms and economic conditions. It is, rather, their most important product.”

 

4. Who believed “that writers should be ‘engineers’ of ‘human souls’”?

A. Mikhail Bakhtin C. Josef Stalin

B. Georg Lukacs D. Karl Marx

 

5. Who argued that art should be “viewed as a field of production, not as a container of ‘content’”?

A. Bruce Robbins C. Bertolt Brecht

B. Leon Trotsky D. Walter Benjamin

 

6. Who “viewed literary works primarily in terms of their relationship to ideology, the function of which, he argued, is to (re)produce the existing relations of production in a given society”?

A. Louis Althusser C. Gloria Anzuldua

B. Karl Marx D. Theodor Adorno

 

7. According to Robbins, “ the many varieties of Marxist criticism have two things in common.” Pick two of the following that best describe these two things:

A. They put texts into a historical context.

B. They try to convert literary theory in terms of communism.

C. They champion the upper classes and undermine the working class.

D. They try to change the historical context-to have an effect on history.

 

8. True/False: Marxists try to find hidden meanings within texts.

 

9. True/False: Terry Eagleton finds that the complexity of Marxist criticism lies within the complex web of social and economic relationships that were prerequisite to the work’s production.

 

10. Who “viewed language…in terms of discourses and dialogues”?

A. Maxim Gorky C. Karl Marx

B. Mikail Bakhtin D. Vladimir Lenin

 

Key

1. C
2. D
3. conciousness
4. C
5. C
6. A
7. A and D
8. False
9. True
10. B

     

    Essay Prompts

    Please choose two of the following to discuss and analyze. Each answer should be in short answer format with at least 5-8 sentences. Be sure to be as descriptive as possible and try to refer to the text. Don’t worry about exact quotations or citing the material.

     

    1. How does class and class consciousness affect the portrayals of the governess and ghosts? What does Robbins say about the governess’ relationship with the ghosts and how does that tie into class?
    2. What role do the children play in this Marxist interpretation?
    3. In light of this Marxist interpretation, how does the death of Miles “leave us with the bitter image of democratic innocence slain”?
    4. As a whole, do you find this interpretation to be valid and useful when reading the story? Why? Why not?