Poe story an allegory of decaying capitalism : " But outside was the Red Death ".

" The putrefaction of American capitalism " , makes me think of a number of Edgar Allan Poe horror stories as allegories of the decaying capitalist system. In one of them a certain very sick M. Valdemar has been hypnotized at the point of death. He tries to communicate this one wish: " please let me die." In another famous Poe short story Prince Prospero is hosting an eerie ball in a mysterious haunted palace. The masked guests are desperate about forgetting something dreadful: yes, "outside was the Red Death."
“Something has happened in this country which, as any good Marxist will tell you, can’t happen…the proletariat has become bourgeois.”
When I was in high school my English class was assigned " The Communist Manifesto " to encourage our " critical thinking " skills. The introduction to the text seemed longer than the Manifesto itself. It made the point that oh-so-MIDDLE CLASS America was a living refutation of the Marxist view.
Later we were asked a question about the J.D. Salinger classic " The Catcher in the Rye ". Holden Caulfied was to me just a young middle class neurotic kid- but very alienated. I loved the way he found everything so very PHONY. " What will become of Holden ? " the teacher asked. I crudely and boldly said : " He 's going to become a communist ! "
Well in those still liberal days I did not risk my B+ grade.

Poe story an allegory of decaying capitalism ?