it's quite clear to see the effect of the working class environment on selma, but a character that i was particularly intrigued by was bill. at first i wondered would he be considered a "capitalist" in the terms of our good friend karl? after looking further into his character, i decided he should be lumped with the workers because of his obsession with money and his inability to have enough to sustain himself and his family. "so much does the appropriation of the object appear as estrangement that the more objects the worker produces the fewer he can possess and the more he falls under the dominion of his product..." says marx. although technically this quote relates to the decrease in laborers' worth as their labor increases, i thought it also could apply to the situation of bill. bill came into a lot of money from an inheritance and it was only then that his money was enough. once he had to work for it again he fell "under the dominion of his product" and alienated himself from his wife, his friends, and obviously from himself considering his desire to ultimately eliminate himself. the more money he had, the more money he needed , so even if somebody is able to make a lot of money, "the fewer he can possess."
so then what about selma? she manages to take on a job in the factory and add extra work onto that. when she alienates herself from herself and just focuses on her job, she is capable of doing the work. however, whenever she lets her own identity interfere, she can no longer be a part of the system. she gets in trouble for bringing her music to work and is ultimately fired because she is thinking of music while laboring. this really demonstrated the point marx makes about having to give up one's identity to the system. because selma is unable to do that, she can no longer labor.
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