1934

**"1934"** **Jayne Anne Phillips**

**__Synopsis:__**
Told from the point of view of seven year old Francine, 1934 details the turbulence and tragedy of the mental descent of her father, J.T., in depression-era Bellington, Virginia. A once successful lumber businessman and well respected member of his community, J.T.’s life is categorized by financial failure brought about by the stock market crash of 1929, and his erratic behavior varies from deep dementia to public outbursts in front of the town bank. Lacey, J.T.’s wife and Francine’s mother, tries to maintain her husband’s psychological health and her family’s household and assets, but is forced to sell J.T.’s 1928 ford, the final remnant of his fortune, after the family barn burns down. Instead of relinquishing the last piece of his former life to John Simpson, a banker who is hinted to have cheated J.T. out of all his possessions, J.T. takes “Frank” (J.T.’s dementia causes him to see his young daughter as a male assistant) on an expedition to the slums at the fringes of the town. He crashes his car and is ultimately committed, still disconnected from the depths of his reality as he asks, “Lacey, aren’t you coming with me?”

__**Ideologies Prevalent in Text:**__ Though J.T. is originally a rich bourgeois property owner, he is the victim of oppression in "1934." His mental instability demonstrates the deep bourgeois infiltration in J.T.'s social consciousness; financial ruin is an unacceptable reality, and so J.T.'s mind structures its own reality in which he is still a member of the dominating class. John Simpson is almost a caricature of "evil" capitalism and the bourgeoisie in his physical description of an overweight banker who gains wealth through exploitation. However, his main emphasized victim is not the proletariat. Nor is the proletariat present in the daily events in Francine's eyes. Rather, they are on the fringes of society, hidden away in shacks that serve as the lowest sect of the community. The reader is not meant to empathize with them, but rather assert that their social position is the least desired and causes J.T. to go mad. While J.T. does descend in social class, he still represent a positive, "good man" side of property owners. Lacey represents a "sleeping" consciousness. She accepts her position and subjugation to external powers (Simpson, the Banks, etc.) and works to maintain normalcy under their rule. Overall, wealth dominates the actions and emotions of all the characters, seen through J.T.'s outbursts, Jocasta's criticisms, and Simpson's greed. The main tragic element is J.T.'s economic problems, and all troubles brew from the lack of property.

__**Marx and Engels:**__ J.T. represents a newly formed member of the oppressed, but is not quite associated with the proletariat. Stripped of their assets, J.T. and his family hang somewhere in between the middle and lower classes. While John Simpson controls the base, he is also a product of the superstructure that dictates that wealth dominates.

=__** Georg Lukacs and Reflection Theory: **__= The text demonstrates the bourgeois fear of financial destitution, and though it distinguishes between oppressor and oppressed, it fails to address the proletariat's struggle in favor of J.T.'s. Because of this, the text reflects society's fragmentation by not aligning J.T.'s struggle with that of the proletariat. Rather, J.T. is the victim of unfortunate circumstance. This false reality is briefly countered through Simpson's negative portrayal, but overall the text holds that while exploitation does occur at some level, socio-economic class is determined more by external and random forces (i.e. the stock market crash of 1929).

__**Ideological State Apparatuses and Interpellation:** __ Property ownership is a central ISA in "1934". When J.T. loses his property, the entire balance of his life shifts. In the face of losing all of his assets, J.T. hallucinates a false reality. Other ISA's include the Family, as Francine witnesses the whole decline of her father via it's impact on her family. The focus on maintaining a household, rather than circumventing the forces that make a household difficult to maintain, oppresses and pacifies the proletariat. Works Cited: - Phillips, Jayne Anne. “1934.” Stories of the Modern South. Ed. Ben Fourkner and Patrick Samway, S.J. New York: Penguin Books, 1995. 335-347. Print.