An Alienated World: A Marxist Reading Of Little Dorrit

Taking Marxist perspective, this thesis reveals the alienated world in Little Dorrit from three aspects:alienation of natural humanity, alienation of interpersonal relationships and alienation of the society, which are resulted from the alienation of human reason.Apart from the introduction and the conclusion, this thesis consists of three parts. The first chapter focuses on alienation of natural humanity from the perspective of the objectification of individuals. In the developed industrial society, human beings lose their natural humanity under the guidance of reason. They lose the appearance, feelings and thoughts of the human and are reduced to animals, machines and commodities. The second chapter shows that alienation penetrates into interpersonal relationships and turns marriages into bargains, parentage investments and social relations fetishism. Interpersonal relationships become well-calculated exchanges for the sake of being rational. The third part illustrates alienation on the level of society. Bureaucracy, confined living state, and the prevailing philosophy of utilitarianism are the alienated consequences brought by progress which is feverishly pursued by people. The disastrous consequences which come with progress become ironic notes of progress. Objectification of humanity, equivalent exchanges of relationships and ironic social progress together make up the alienated world in Little Dorrit. Reason comes as the domain discourse of the developed industrial society. However, the world ruled by reason becomes an alienated one.