Conflict in Multitude: A New Marxist Study in Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker

Abstract

The research based on Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker that explores the issues of neo-Marxism in which the rich and poor are not divided into normative ways but in individual ways. Unlike, Marxism, Neo-Marxism focuses on the innumerable categories. According to neo-Marxism, there is no coherence and cooperation among capitalists and poor people. There are innumerable types of wealthy people and innumerable poor people. No one can be compared to one another. Neo-Marxism studies by looking at all possible areas of human differences and they can cover all: rich and poor individually. Yet, neo-Marxism also studies the societies where there is domination of wealthy people over poor people though in different ways. The researcher uses mainly the theory of Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri, Clyde W. Barrow Cynthia Weber, Theodore Adorno, Herbert Marcuse and so on to talk about Neo- Marxism. Literature is one of the weapons to reduce the gap between rich and poor as it shows the real picture of society and gives the ways out. The Caretaker is about the three characters: Aston, Mick and Davies. Aston and Mick are two brothers who are living together in a house until Aston brings Davies whom he finds in fight. Although they are all poor and depend on jobs for their living, their level of poverty is different. Mick and Aston are two brothers and own a house while Davies is homeless. They cannot be categorized into bourgeoisie and proletariat like traditional Marxism. Mick and Aston are not rich but they belong to empire because they are richer than Davies as they have house while Davies does not have. Davies belongs to multitude because he does not have house and taking shelter there.