MARXIST LITERARY CRITICISM

This research explores the representation of poverty in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations and Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood, employing Marxist literary criticism as the central framework. Although the novels are set in vastly different cultural and historical contexts Victorian England and colonial/postcolonial Nigeria both works expose the struggles of the underprivileged and critique the social and economic systems that sustain inequality. Through a Marxist lens, the analysis demonstrates that poverty is not an individual failing but a structural outcome of class divisions, material scarcity, and systemic exploitation. Furthermore, the study argues that Dickens and Emecheta, despite their cultural differences, converge in their depiction of the poor as victims of social injustice, while at the same time portraying their endurance in the face of hardship.

This study examines the theme of poverty, unemployment, and exploitation as an economic challenge facing the current Nigerian state, as represented in Niyi Osundare's "Songs of the Season" and Kola Eke's "May 27". The poets proffer solutions from their perspective. The findings reveal how Kola Eke and Osundare use everyday language, incorporating literary devices to convey the situation of poverty affecting the masses, the extent of inequality leading to exploitation, and the devastating effects of unemployment on citizens. This was viewed through marxist literary theory, which depicts a society where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, a reality currently captured in the Nigerian context. The findings challenge the idea that poverty is a result of laziness; instead, they highlight poverty as a tool used by the ruling class to weaken workers. The poets call for a revolution, emphasizing the need for equitable distribution of resources to eradicate poverty, unemployment, and exploitation