CLASS, POWER AND EXPLOITATION IN DARWENT’S THE THINGS WE DO TO OUR FRIENDS: A MARXIST PRESPECTIVE
Keywords:
Capitalism, Class Hierarchy, Dark Academia, Exploitation, Heather Darwent, Marxism, Power, The Things We Do To Our FriendsAbstract
This paper discusses the hierarchy of classes, power and exploitation in the Heather Darwent text, the things we do to our friends using a Marxist approach to literature. The study centers on an analysis of how economic inequality influences social relationship and power accessibility to a working-class student, Clare that aims to become accepted in an elite social circle. Applying qualitative textual analysis, the main Marxist ideas of classes struggle, ideology, exploitation, alienation, and commodification, the research demonstrates how wealth is used as a social control mechanism and strengthens the privilege. The results emphasize the way in which the capitalist ideology fosters the desire to belong to the elite and conceals the social mobility obstacles. The social and psychological implications of inequality of classes are revealed in the novel, which is the criticism of modern capitalistic society and the long-lasting role of economic privileges in the relations between human beings.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Mahwish Abid, Sara Anam (Author)
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