A Marxist Humanist Study of Selected Short Stories of Katherine Mansfield

Abstract

Marxist-humanism is a significant and pertinent theory that critiques the exploitation of lower classes by bourgeois classes and lays emphasis on the value of individuals in present-day class-conscious societies. In the Marxist-humanist vision of human society, the freedom of a human being is the most important aspect of social existence which should not be usurped by elite classes. This research paper scrutinizes the Marxist-Humanist strains delineated in the thematic dimensions of the three selected short stories The Doll’s House, The Garden Party, and Life of Ma Parker by Katherine Mansfield. The nature of this paper is qualitative, and the researcher has attempted to unravel the process of dehumanization of the bourgeois sections of society which results in the alienation of the lower classes. Mansfield’s short stories have not been previously explored from a Marxist-humanist perspective and the present research contributes to the available research studies on Katherine Mansfield’s short stories.

Keywords

• marxist-humanism
• dehumanization
• freedom
• bourgeois class
• lower class
• alienation