E.L. Doctorow's The Book of Daniel: Justice for All?

"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles" Karl Marx says in his Communist Manifesto (34). Money talks. Everything else can be put aside, the simple and unfortunate truth is that money talks. The common man will always be looking for a way out of his downtrodden or disadvantaged state. After their country was torn apart following WWI, the poverty stricken Germans united against their scapegoat, the Jewish people. In many of their eyes, society has abandoned them and therefore they focus their attention on either changing that society or lashing out against it. During and after the depression in the United States, many people began to view communism as their way out; just as during the Red Scare many Americans began to view communists as their scapegoat. In the Book of Daniel, E.L. Doctorow conveys a message that society will not always be just, but rather society is always skewed in favor of the ruling and often wealthy class and away from the common and often poor man.

Doctorow comments that "law, in whatever name, protects privilege," (184). More often than not it is the wealthy and fortunate that are able to gain political power, prestige and respect in their country. Even if they are not qualified to be in positions of power, money or a well known family name can buy a person the best opportunities available, including top-level universities and educations. Since the wealthy are the ones making law, the law reflects the interests of that particular class. Marx says that every step in the economic development of the "bourgeoisie was accompanied by a corresponding political advance of that class" (37).