路德記-《The class struggles in Ruth》讀后感

1、Presenter:XXXRoland Boer (1961- )Roland Boer, the Research Professor at the University of Newcastle, is one of the most creative Marxist researchers in contemporary times. His main research areas are Marxist Criticism of the Bible, Political Myth and Criticism of Religion.Major works:Marxist Critici

2、sm of the Bible: A Critical Introduction to Marxist Literary Theory and the Bible (2003)Criticism of heaven: On Marxism and theology (2007)Knockinon heavens door: the Bible and popular culture (2012)Terry Eagleton (1943- )Terry Eagleton, born in 1943, grew up in a working-class Irish Catholic family

3、. He is a British literary theorist, critic and public intellectual. Also, he is a famous Western Marxist literary theorists in contemporary times. Major works:Criticism and Ideology: A Study in Marxist Literary Theory (1976)Marxism and Literary Criticism (1976)Walter Benjamin, or towards a Revoluti

4、onary Criticism (1981)IntroductionEagleton treats Wuthering Heights as a study of class and ethnicity. He also considers The Rape of Clarissa as an effort to bring together class and gender in his interpretation of Samuel Richardsons novel. Even though Eagleton failed to have a full integration of c

5、lass, gender and ethnicity, Boer argues that he provides a possible way of interpreting the Book of Ruth in a new perspective. In his reading of the Book of Ruth, Bore finds out that there are three areas which are ethnicity, gender and class that could provide an ideological solution of the problem

6、 of succession in the biblical texts of the Book of Ruth. 1Class and ethnicity: Heathcliff and the Great Hunger2Class and gender: The Rape of Clarissa3Class, ethnicity and gender:The Effacements of Ruth in the Book of RuthCONTENTSHeathcliff and the Great HungerEagletons definition of classObjective

7、dimension:The difference between those who work to produce goods and those who extract a surplus from those goods; the former do all the work but do not own the means of production while the latter do no work but own the means of production.Subjective dimension:A consciousness of belonging to a part

8、icular class. The conscious includes social codes, world outlook, religion, etc.Great Hunger (Ireland)The Great Hunger (or the Great Famine) was a period of mass starvation, disease, and emigration in Ireland between 1845 and 1849. The already strained relations between many Irish and the British Cr

9、own soured further both during and after the famine, heightening ethnic and sectarian tensions, and boosting Irish nationalism in Ireland and among Irish emigrants in the United States and elsewhere.Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights)Heathcliff is a fictional character in Emily Brontes novel Wuthering He

10、ights. He is often regarded as an archetype of the tortured anti-hero whose all-consuming rage, jealousy and anger destroy both him and those around him. Shifts of Heathcliffs class identityA landless laborer set to work in the HeightsThe man who is taken in at the estate of the HeightsHeathcliff ch

11、anged from the lower class to the higher class. The Rape of ClarissaSamuel Richardsons three epistolary novels Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded (1740) Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady (1747) The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753)The desirable feminine virtues: tenderness, purity, kindness,

12、pietyClass and genderRichardson writes at the time when the transition from an open and vigorous patriarchy to its subtler bourgeois forms is under way. In Richardson works, women are embodied with virtues. These virtues are the newly dominant bourgeois oppression over females. They have to cater to

13、 the mores of male bourgeois society.Class alliance of aristocracy and bourgeoisie is obvious in Richardsons works. Clarissa was forced to marry a man whom she didnt love because of the alliance of aristocracy. Also, Grandison married an ideal woman not only because of love but also the alliance of

14、bourgeoisie. Class conflicts are concealed by gender in these three books. The Effacements of Ruth in the Book of RuthOthers views about RuthAthlya Brenner has argued that the model which best describes Ruth is that of the foreign woman worker, common in Israel today.Deficiency:Brenner does not offe

15、r a class analysis, notably more for her feminist criticism than any Marxist categories. David Joblings commentary on Samuels novel divides the analysis into sections on class, gender and ethnicity.Deficiency:Jobling seems not to provide an adequate reflection on the interrelation between the three

16、areas. EthnicityThe Moabites are the descendants of Lot and his first-born daughter. Ruth is therefore one of this incestuous brood. Her Moabite identity cannot be ignored by the Israelites. Both the Israelites and Ruth herself consider Ruth as a foreigner.“Why have I found such favor in your eyes t

17、hat you notice me a froeigner?”(2.10)GenderAs a female, Ruths role is working in the field and giving birth to a son. This kind of rule is significant for the patriarchal society. But in the end of the Book of Ruth, Ruth disappears when her task are done. And the narrative ends up with a male geneal

18、ogy from Perez to David. This story focuses on the inheritance from male to male.Perez was the father of Hezron,Obed the father of Jesse,and Jesse the father of David.(4.22)GenderThen the elders and all those at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your ho

19、me like Racher and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathan and be famous in Bethlehem. Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”Ruths purpose in the narrative is to produ

20、ce “seed”, both the son to be born, Obed, and as the closing genealogy shows, his descendants.Ruth is no longer the Moabitess but the “young woman”, the gleaner and worker. Linguistically, at the moment of her imminent son-bearing, the terminology links her inextricably with her role as field-worker

21、 and gleaner.Identifying ClassBoers DefinitionClass is one of a cluster of terms in Marxist theory that explores the relations between productive and non-productive labor: those who control the means of production extract, in order to live, the surplus product from those who work for them but do not

22、 own the means of production.How Class Appears in the Book of RuthBoaz (owner of the means of production) Young man in charge of the reapersReapersServant girlsRuth pBoaz: he engages no work and he involves nothing in the production of the necessary items for human existence. He lives off the surplu

23、s labor of those who do works. The only thing he does is tell others what to do: nearly all of his speeches in the text are imperative.pE.g.: “Even if she gathers among the sheaves, dont embarrass her. Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and dont

24、rebuke her.”pNaomi: her role in the story is to give Ruth directives like Boaz. she robbes Ruths fruits of work in terms of the gleaning and the the sonObed. pE.g.:“My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for.Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He

25、 will tell you what to do.”pThen Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.” (4.16,17)Boaz = NaomiClass Complicity of NaomiNaomi is the one who passes over the inheritance. She is clearly not an item of exchange, but rather one who eng

26、ages in exchange.Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech.(4.3)Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead mans widow, in order to maint

27、ain the name of the dead with his property.”(4.5)Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon.”(4.9)Further Complicity between Naomi and BoazNaomi and Boaz have multiple ties in terms of

28、kinship, economic exchange and the exploitation of labor. They act to control and direct Ruths actions.“She said, Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters. She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.” (2

29、.7)So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered. (2.17)Ruth has already engaged in the most back-breaking labor but both Boaz and Naomi enhance the working conditions in order to make her work harder. Their enhancement is like pure exploitation.Ruths Status as ideological anomaly effacement“So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind t