Tuesday 27 September 2011

A Marxist analysis of 'The Left Hand of God'

Karl Marx beleved that 'capitolism thrives on exploiting it's labourers', in that the workers get less and the shareholders get more. It alienates the workers from themselves, meaning that they are not viewed as labourers, but are seen as production units for the individuals that they are employed by.
'The Left Hand of God' begins in a monastery/fortress/prison, which is run by the Redeemers (Paul Hoffman's interpretation of die-hard christian fanatics), who take boys from a young age (such as the protagonist Cale) and turn the ones who dont die from cruel punishments and malnutritian, into super diciplined soldiers of faith, who will probably die in their first week of battle against the enemies of the Redeemers, the 'Antagonists'.

Marxism shows that the Redeemers are just exploiting the boy's existence for their own use. The 'Zealots', as they are known, have no choices in life, meaning that taking up arms in an un-winable war is forced upon them, and their countless deaths both on the battlefield and in the fortress do not matter to the Redeemers, as they are seen in the first chapter by Cale to just replace the dead with more boys.

Marxism also explains how the boys are 'alienated' from themselves by their superiors. He writes that the Capitolist system does this by viewing workers as profit and not as people, even when they group together in unions. All of the Zealot boys, specially Cale, are not seen as individuals or even human beings, but are viewed by the Redeemers as a collective abomination of sin (which is why they are never allowed to see Girls). This is why they are beaten almost to death on a regular basis for something as simple as looking out of a window, and why the Redeemers are never ones to let a boy off with a caution. It is why they are trained for years to go and fight, die, be forgotten, and be replaced by more boys. The system of cruelty they live under is one that cares not for individuals, but cares only for the sheer number of individuals, to ensure a 'high output workforce', if you will.

1 comment:

  1. A Marxist interpretation applies well to this novel. You clearly analyse the economic system of labour. The idea of alienation is also a good one. The idea of exploitation is even stronger and probably worth pursuing.

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