I'M+NOBODY.+WHO+ARE+YOU?+-+MARXIST+VIEW


 * Marxism in //“// ****//I'm nobody! Who are you?” – Emily Dickinson //**

In “**I'm nobody! Who are you?”** Emily Dickinson views famous people as Somebody while ordinary people like herself is Nobody in society.

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The author confront confronts other person that she is a nobody at the very first line of the poem. She is very determine and confident to tell her identity. She continues by wondering the other person’s identity. She assumed the other person also a nobody, then at last she starts accepting and talking to other person “a pair of us”, “don’t tell”… These lines show the selection of friends or social communications in the author’s society: only those with same social statuses are interacting. The words “don’t tell” and “banish” indicate that there is a fine line separating the two social classes: somebody versus nobody.

The author states that it is pleasant, “dreary” to be somebody. She now defines somebody as famous people. She compares famous people to a frog. A frog is croaking non-stop in summer time just like how famous people continuously keep having their names mentioned in society.

The author’s definition of somebody can be viewed in Marxist lens. Only people with fame, people of the public are consider as somebody in her society. And their acts matter. They are powerful, they can banish “nobody” like her and her new friend. Nobody are people with lack of fame. They have no controls or power in their own society. The author mentioned “don’t tell” indicating as a nobody, people can’t say or tell their thoughts or else they will be punished by “banishment” from the society from that somebody.

This poem is very relevant in Emily Dickinson life. She is un-famous during her lifetime. Though she wrote nearly 1,800 poems which only a few are published, the society at that time didn’t recognize her contributions. This poem reflects this aspect of her life.

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__**Marxist Lens Definition: **__ Marxist literary theories tend to focus on the representation of class conflict as well as the reinforcement of class distinctions through the medium of literature. Marxist theorists use traditional techniques of literary analysis but subordinate aesthetic concerns to the final social and political meanings of literature. Marxist theorist often champion authors sympathetic to the working classes and authors whose work challenges economic equalities found in capitalist societies. In keeping with the totalizing spirit of Marxism, literary theories arising from the Marxist paradigm have not only sought new ways of understanding the relationship between economic production and literature, but all cultural production as well. Marxist analyses of society and history have had a profound effect on literary theory and practical criticism, most notably in the development of "New Historicism" and "Cultural Materialism."

__Cited__: http://www.iep.utm.edu/l/literary.htm#H4 and Youtube video