Maya Lewis Professor MacLachlan English Composition 1102 15 February 2023 Living the Lumpenproletariat Life Roberto Bolaño’s A Little Lumpen Novelita explores the lives of Bianca and her brother after her parents die in a car accident. Bianca and her brother, now left without guardians to care for them, are forced to make ends meet on their own and completely change the way they live. In A Little Lumpen Novelita by Roberto Bolaño, it is evident that the way Bianca and her brother live following her parents’ deaths and her pessimistic and apathetic outlook on life represents the lumpenproletariat/lower working class. After the death of their parents, Bianca and her brother were left feeling hopeless and troubled regarding their lives and their …show more content…
It is clear that Bianca no longer thinks that she or her brother’s futures are worth fantasizing about. Bianca’s lack of hope and optimism toward her future is similar to that of a lumpenproletariat. Lumpenproletariats feel as though nothing can or will change their unfortunate lives and futures. Seeing that such an important part of her life had been taken away from her so abruptly, Bianca feels demoralized regarding the future. There is a lack of class demonstrated by Bianca and her brother that can also be compared to the lack of class of a lumpenproletariat. Shortly following their parents’ death, Bianca’s brother starts to rent pornography to view at home in order to “learn how to make love” (Bolaño 11). In society, it is often frowned upon to watch pornography, and pornography is often considered a taboo subject, yet Bianca and especially her brother watch it often. This kind of low-brow behavior is that of a member of the working class who has no real means of entertainment or …show more content…
While Bianca does not loathe Maciste or hate spending time with him, she begins to become disillusioned with her pathetic criminal life and longs to change the trajectory of her life. Bianca claims that she “didn’t like her life” and was unhappy that she was “moving into an even more precarious realm where [she] would soon lead a life of crime” (Bolaño 47). Bianca’s disillusionment with her life can be both before and during her career of prostitution. Seeing how the way that they live on a day-to-day basis affects her and her brother, she wants life to change for the better. Her disillusionment with her rather depressing life is something that the average lumpenproletariat experiences. Lumpenproletariats wish their lives would change but often do not have the means to change the way they live for the