Da-Duh in Memoriam, Paule Marshall, Historical and Karl Marx Perspectiive

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Story’s can be interpreted through different perspectives because they offer different evidences of the influence these perspectives have on them. The story “To da-duh in memoriam” by “Paule Marshall” can be analyzed through two different ones: the historical perspective which is present throughout the story showing us how different background can make people react in particular ways. And even though the story seems to be a simple one the Marxist perspective can be felt in the idiosyncrasy of the people of the island. This short story shows what living in Barbados in 1937 was like. At that time Barbados was a country that was strongly divided by race and sex. There was a small white elite group that dominated and exploited the black population. This black population was forced to live in the agricultural sector where sugar was produced, and suffer from poverty because of the lack of opportunity and unemployment. This is evident in the short story with phrases such as “…not only did Da-duh prefer boys but she also liked her grandchildren to be white” this showed that she would have preferred these conditions for her grandchildren so that they were able to succeed more in life. Also the phrase “Any girl child that takes after the father dose be lucky” represents how the grandma truly believed that even though it was a loss cause and they were female and white, she could still be fine in life because she took after her father. Furthermore when a lot of people said “But look Adry got big-big children! And see the nice things they wearing, wrist watch and all” this showed the reader that truly the conditions the people lived in were bad ones. Karl Marx believed that in the structure of any society the economic base influences in the superstructure. That is to say that the social institutions and the ideology of people, promote the basic values which are necessary
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