Literary Analysis

Introduction

The concept of ideology has been vigorously contested and, at certain points, radically reconstructed in accordance with the interests and actions of those who have used it. People form a society, institution and the overall structure of governance. In order to survive, the people with power within a society need to produce goods, the institution is responsible to protect the rights of its members. Institutions have authority over members (Brock, pp.178). Everyone plays impotent role, from labors to produce goods, markets, and of course the government. In society, the institutions have a structure of power, which may suggest a sense of inequality, but it is necessary to govern the society and use force to do so. Another way of leading people to live in harmony and one thought is through Ideology. It is the way people define and see their world. This ideological power has existed from centuries.

This paper focuses on the concept of ideology as presented in Chapter 23 of the book “An introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory" by Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle and uses it to analyze the novel “The Beetle" by Richard Marsh critically under its light. The paper discusses the various elements of the novel that reflect the perspective of ideology, and how it relates to the theory given by Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle in their works.

Discussion

Today the importance of ideology is significant than ever, as today's modern society does not accept the use of power and force. Therefore, Ideological power is the most powerful tool today, to give a unity to nation. Media is playing an important tool of not only communicating value but also highlighting deviation from the nation's ideology. The reality of an ideology is another notable notion (Bennett, pp.78). Most of us belief in truthfulness of our beliefs, but most of the time reality is different from perceived reality. We use our culture to make meaning of or sense of our surroundings. Our representation of realism is not necessarily reality. There may another side to the coin which we do not see or want to see due to the perceived ideology, which most of us have inherited from our parents.

In a society, there are always those who accept sub ordinance, and there are those who enjoin high power status. Taking an example of Native American during past centuries, who lived as second class citizens but today Blacks enjoy the same status in the U.S. Ideology is way of representation, thinking about reality and the way of defining surroundings. Taking an example of seeing, in U.S. the values, economic system, norms all tend towards free choices of an individual (Bennett, pp.78). Ideology is about making people see the world through codes made by powerful groups, people who have power and influence on others. Politics and philosophy are key concepts, which create ideological thinking.

There are two steps in Ideology articulation. First, a message is articulated with a precise meaning and then, the message is articulated to induce ideology. There are many ...