Human on Sale: A Neo-Marxist Reading of Marquez's The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor

Abstract

To read Gabrial Garcia Marquez's novel The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor is to unveil the position of general working class people in capitalistic society. Human condition as shown in the novel is not better than an object in the market. This objectification of human body shows the dehumanization upon humanity and autonomous subjectivity. Human is controlled, mishandled and objectified for the benefit of capitalists. They follow an economic theory that attempts to move away from the traditional accusations of class warfare and create new economic theory models. Human like Luis, the main character of this novel, has been used by capitalists to get material achievement. In modern society and culture industry, human body is commodified to get more benefit.