A Thai-Style Allegory/Prediction of Class: Exploring Marxist Characteristics in Chart Korbjitti’s The Personal Knife

Abstract

As a pioneering dystopian short story in twentieth-century Thai literature, Chart Korbjitti’s The Personal Knife presents a stark class allegory set within capitalist society. Drawing on Marxist critical theory, this paper examines the fourfold metaphor of the “personal knife”—the Blade of Power, Violence, Discipline, and Alienation—to systematically analyse the core issues of class oppression, violent domination, ideological control, and human alienation depicted in the narrative. By deconstructing the extreme scenario of a “cannibalistic feast,” The Personal Knife not only exposes the structural contradictions of Thai society during the capitalist acceleration of the 1980s, but also reflects the author’s distinct Marxist stance and penetrating social critique.