An understanding of the etymological origin of the word alien is requisite to understanding Marx's essay. Alien stems from the Latin adjective (sometimes used as a pronoun) alienus, aliena, alienum, denoting that the noun being modified by alienus, a, um, belongs 'of or to another.' When thought of in this context, Marx not only suggests that human labor is hostile, indifferent and estranged, but that it also does not belong to the one who is laboring. That is, the ownership of one's labor is transferred, not through due course of law or any other such institution, to another person by the act of laboring itself.
Exponentials of Alienation
Marx commences his essay by maintaining that workers' miseries are directly proportional to their level of production; the more value workers attribute to their product, by virtue of their labor, the more miserable they become. Workers themselves are a commodity and the greater the value of their production, the cheaper a commodity they become. "The increase in the value of the world of things is directly proportional to the decrease in value of the human world." The end result of labor is its objectification into a thing, and the value of labor lies only in its objectification.
However, the product