Marxist Mirrors and Panoptic Prisons: A Marxist and Panoptic Study of Joanne Ramos's The Farm

The growing pervasiveness of surveillance technologies has introduced new dimensions of observation and control over our actions. Joanne Ramos’s The Farm introduces a dystopian society where constant observation spreads even to women’s bodies and their reproductive functions, depriving them of identity, agency, and autonomy. Ramos critiques the capitalist exploitation of women, under the pretext of surrogacy in this dystopian setting. The themes of Panopticism and Marxism in The Farm question the agency of women in the narrative, which is caused by class distinction and pervasive surveillance. The panoptic control structure ingrained in the Golden Oaks Farm continuously monitors the hosts’ daily activities. The paper analyzes the effect of such surveillance and control on the hosts’ identity, and agency. It also explores the control imposed on surrogate mothers, who belong predominantly to financially challenged backgrounds, by drawing parallels to the Marxist aspects of class distinctions and commodification of individuals.