Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
Marxism criticism of “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner.”
Marxism criticism, which is based on philosopher Karl Marx’s writings, attempts to connect literature and the underlying social conditions that literary works were produced. “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” is a literary work that shows how the capitalist state exploits the soldier.
Randall Jarrell was born around 1914 in Nashville, Tennessee. He studied for both bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Vanderbilt University. Jarrell was considered as one of the most feared and astute poetry critic, peerless literary essayist, and poet of his generation. His reputation as a poet began after publishing the book, Little Friend, Little Friend while still serving as a soldier. “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner,” which is written in the first person, is a reflection of a soldier’s treatment in the military (“Jarrell Randall,” 60). “From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State” (1), the author narrates how as a child existing in the capitalist system, he transitioned from the security and safety of his mother to the hands of the exploitative state. “And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze” (2), here the capitalist state treats him as a commodity in contrast to the way a socialist country or a mother would raise a child. Likewise, the mentioning of “…black flak and the nightmare fighters” (3) is portrayed as attacking the proletariat or the working class that the soldier belongs to. The capitalists or bourgeoisie are amassing more wealth and building empires using labor provided by the lower levels of the state (“About Randall Jarrell | Academy Of American Poets”). As a result, the Marxists declared a communist revolution against the exploitation, injustices, and tyranny committed by the bourgeoisie. The final line, “When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose” (4), demonstrates how the capitalists treat the lower working class (Palaima 1-34). The soldiers are immediately replaced once dead without given a decent burial.
In conclusion, Jarrell used diction and imagery to depict the brutality and un-heroic deaths suffered by the soldiers as capitalists states build empires and accumulate more wealth. The analysis acknowledges that capitalism was the economic conception that took center stage in the US. Importantly, Jarell has relied on his process in writing to articulate the issues that Americans hold dearly.
Works Cited
“About Randall Jarrell | Academy Of American Poets.” Poets.org. N.p., 2020. Web. 30 Apr. 2020.
Jarrell, Randall. “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner.” Partisan Review 12.1 (1945): 60.
Palaima, Thomas G. “War Stories Told, Untold and Retold from Troy to Tinian to Fort Campbell.” Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics 23.3 (2016): 1-34.