An understanding of the class-gender relationship is very important in order to understand the oppression faced by both the bourgeoisie and working class women due to capitalism. Oppression for a bourgeoisie class woman, for instance could be about not getting equal rights or the lifestyle of the man from her own class or that of elite. On the contrary, for a working class woman, it could mean not having access to basic amenities and the freedom to function as per her own will. Natasha for instance, is the daughter of a landowner and it is by her own choice that she joins the revolution, followed by Shashenka and Liudmila, as opposed to Nilovna, who gradually yielded to circumstances and the understanding she was subjected to. Her becoming …show more content…
This realisation of exploitation, oppression and subjugation led to the Russian revolution, and also to the protest and revolution that Gorky creates through Pavel, Andrey and Nilovna, of course. While Nilovna covers the distance from being “idealess” to being “conscious, the other women in the novel, too play eminent roles, providing a much clearer picture of the Marxist feminist. Natasha and Shashenka, both come from the upper class and are associated with the proletariat’s. Not only associated, they dedicate their lives to the socialist movement. To some extent, it supports the idea that the involvement of female bourgeoisie is very crucial to the success of any revolution. And if this revolution can any bit be seen as the revolution of the feminists, the involvement of the bourgeoisie woman then becomes significant on many levels. These are the characters who abandon their comfortable habitats and come out to live with the harsh realities of life. We see Natasha, who walks her way up and down from town to city and barely has clothes to wear and food o eat. While she works as a teacher, she is the daughter of a wealthy landlord who can give her an easy, comfortable life. Unlike Nilovna, who has nothing to begin with, these women