Marxist theory has all to do with the significance of material goods and economic power within a story. It is a theory of politics and class conflict, class in correlation to the material goods one person has. Marxism puts economic, social and political power driving factors of all character’s actions. This way theorist can analyze the artifact of the text piece and how these factors played a part at the time.
Marxist theorists use materialism. Materialism is by studying a piece of writing by their point in time and studying the use of material in the piece in order to assess the economical state of that time period. Since economical power is the drive of Marxist theory, theorist look at how class is in conflict in stories, encouraging the working class to revolt and exposing those within the story that keep the suppressed working class at bay. However, the reason the working does never does revolt is because of the concept of ideology. This is the way people look at and how they relate to the situation they are in sort of as a way to make themselves feel better about their conditions. Many times this ideology is seen in our perspective of the “American dream.”
Karl Marx mad large contributions to this idea of ideology and how it effects the human experience. Marx was afraid of the rise of industry defining people as less humans and more a mere part of the work force. He studied economics and, earlier, the individual human behavior and socialism, concerned about the effects of capitalism and money on 
humanity. In the work force there is no room for an individual and they are all tirelessly working for the same thing, making light of their situations using the ideologies of classism, patriotism, religion, consumerism and rugged individualism.