Appleman, Chapter 4

I found this chapter a little dry. It made some good points, but I feel that this chapter could have been more interesting if we didn't always have to relate Marxist theory with works such as Macbeth. Appleman makes the point that the cannon in today's education is rapidly growing and it is a necessity to teach background knowledge, including cultural and historical aspects. I agree with Appleman, one the fact that Marxist theory "places the study of literature in the context of important social questions. Literary theories in general are very intimidating. Out of all theories, Marxist was always the scariest for myself. To teach this theory, it has to be broken down and made very obvious what the goal and objectives are. I believe that using the exercise of the students stating which character they relate to through class could be very controversial. This is especially because in this case of suburban upper class, some of the students who are not upper class could make them socially outcasted, even if responses are kept between the teacher and student.
On the other hand, a part that I did like was when the class reflected on Marxist theory through the text and then through themselves. In the end, Marxist theory is a challenge to teach, but I believe it can be done and can be very beneficial.