MID-TERM EXAM

There are 3 sections to be completed. Each section contains 1 question to be answered. Your
answers should comprise between 750 and 800 words PER SECTION.

SECTION I
Louis Althusser states: “I have suggested that the ideologies were realized in institutions, in their
rituals and their practices, in the ISAs. We have seen that on this basis they contribute to that
form of class struggle, vital for the ruling class, the reproduction of the relations of production.
But the point of view itself however real, is still an abstract one. In fact, the State and its
Apparatuses only have meaning from the point of view of the class struggle, as an apparatus of
class struggle ensuring class oppression and guaranteeing the conditions of exploitation and its
reproduction. But there is no class struggle without antagonistic classes. Whoever says class
struggle of the ruling class says resistance, revolt and class struggle of the ruled class. That is
why the ISAs are not the realization of ideology in general, nor even the conflict-free realization
of the ideology of the ruling class. The ideology of the ruling class does not become the ruling
ideology by the grace of God, nor even by virtue of the seizure of State power alone. It is by the
installation of the ISAs in which this ideology is realized and realizes itself that it becomes the
ruling ideology. But this installation is not achieved all by itself; on the contrary, it is the stake in
a very bitter and continuous class struggle: first against the former ruling classes and their
positions in the old and new ISAs, then against the exploited class”.

Please discuss in relation to George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia.

- Althusser's essay „Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses“ is concerned with the
production of the ruling class. He states that ISAs are not stable or permanent and their ability to
produce practices is limited as well as threatened by a class struggle. The lower classes adhered
to the ideologies of the ruling class, so what kind of struggle did they undertake then? Spain
through Orwell's eyes is revolutionary. The first thing he encountered when he came to Spain
was the working-class revolution, and for the first time, it seemed to him that he had come to a
country where the working class held the reins. The Spanish Civil War was triggered by an
attempt to overthrow the elected Republican government. This coup that divided the country in
two prepared the ground for conflict. In the book, there was a struggle between two ideologies:
Fascism and Democracy. They decided to realize their ideologies through a struggle in which
ordinary people, supporters of one or the other, took part. The ideology of Fascism was the rule
of one ruler (dictatorship), the suppression of opponents, and control over society and the
economy. On the other hand, the ideology of democracy is the election of government by the
people, based on the egalitarian principles that all people are equal and deserve equal
opportunities and rights. As Orwell wrote in Homage to Catalonia: „It was above all things a
political war. No event in it, at any rate during the first year, is intelligible unless one has some
grasp of the inter-party struggle that was going on behind the Government lines.“, meaning that
due to its political climate a war was viewed as a class struggle, a struggle between Fascism and
Communism, dictatorship and democracy. Those who were against Fascism were also not ideal.
Instead of fighting Fascism, each of them fought for dominance within a political group. POUM
wanted to build a new society controlled by the working class. For them, war and revolution are
inseparable, while others wanted to stop that revolution that fought against the oppression of the
working class.
On his return to Barcelona, Orwell noticed that the antagonism (that between communists and
anarchists) had grown even more - some wanted the revolution to continue, while others wanted
to prevent it. As an example of the state apparatus in Homage to Catalonia, we can take the
police and the media. The men were held in prisons on false charges, without trial, “an
atmosphere of suspicion, fear, uncertainty and veiled hatred“. Besides, the media has become an
instrument of propaganda and censorship. They manipulated the facts to protect the interests of
only one group. Just ignoring the facts and the revolution, the war was presented as a struggle
between good (Democrats) and evil (Fascists) that forced Orwell to leave England and join the
fight against Fascism in Spain.
In some way, Orwell mocks those ideologies he encountered in Spain. Instead of systems that
were supposed to unite, he only witnessed the failure of Anarchism, Communism, and others to
unite people. Besides, he witnessed the futility of everything. Ideological altercations destroyed
these groups. They could not save an idealized form of an ideological system. The Nationalists
seem to be more united in their objectives. To conclude, state apparatuses are represented in
Homage to Catalonia through the police and the media. In addition, the conflict of ideologies
and the conflict of classes (working-class and ruling class), is apparent. The conflict between the
two ideologies arose due to the conflict of different interests. The dominant groups represented
its interests through the media, ignoring the other side, all for the sake of maintaining its
apparatus and ideology. As Althusser wrote: "But this installation is not achieved all by itself; on
the contrary, it is the stake in a very bitter and continuous class struggle: first against the former
ruling classes and their positions in the old and new ISAs, then against the exploited class",
which supports the claim that the class struggle in Homage to Catalonia was needed, for the
dominant group to maintain its power and oppression of the ruled class. Through the book,
Orwell described the state apparatuses and how they controlled everything, especially using the
media that should educate citizens, not manipulate facts and show only those that they want
people to know, and thus control their brains and influence their opinions, all in favor to their
interests. Perhaps such a state apparatus could be abolished if the working class took over the
power, but given that there are small chances for that scenario, through those class struggles, the
state apparatus only strengthens, or a new one is created.

SECTION II
In Texts for Nothing, Samuel Beckett claims: “There's my life, why not, it is one, if you like, if
you must, I don't say no, this evening. There has to be one, it seems, once there is speech, no
need of a story, a story is not compulsory, just a life, that's the mistake I made, one of the
mistakes, to have wanted a story for myself, whereas life alone is enough. I’m making progress,
it was time, I’ll learn to keep my foul mouth shut before I’m done, if nothing foreseen crops up.
But he who somehow comes and goes, unaided from place to place, even though nothing
happens to him true, what of him? I stay here, sitting, if I’m sitting, often I feel sitting,
sometimes standing, it’s one or the other, or lying down, there’s another possibility, often I feel
lying down, it’s one of the three, or kneeling. What counts is to be in the world, the posture is
immaterial, so long as one is on earth. To breathe is all that is required, there is no obligation to
ramble, or receive company, you may even believe yourself dead on condition you make no
bones about it, what more liberal regimen could be imagined, I don’t know, I don’t imagine…”

Please discuss in relation to Endgame.

- Beckett really did embrace life's meaninglessness and seeking, even longing, for some meaning
and a story to be told. His fault was that he sought a story to call his own and meaning, but as he
stated, as long as you are on the Earth, you are only forced to breathe, and not required to have a
company or discuss anything. He believes that it is enough to exist and live, an incomplete and
meaningless life, as it seems. This view of Beckett can be compared to the Existentialism that
began after World War II, which focuses on the insignificance of human life without purpose.
Beckett thinks so as well - life is just existence without ultimate truth. In addition, the absurdity
associated with Beckett and his works itself dictates that man only exists and that this existence
is chaotic and ambiguous. It is impossible to escape from the absurdity and that is why he
believes that one should not waste time looking for a story or company when it all comes down
to existence and waiting for something to crop up.
Clearly, his vision is also represented in his works, along with Endgame. As you read the work,
you feel hopeless and meaningless, to the point that you begin to question your own life and its
meaning. It is a compelling and complex piece of work. We do not know the message of this
work, but we have been given some hints to relate to it on many levels.
In addition to the depressing atmosphere in the work, the language and communication of the
characters are important. Language in Endgame is not used as a means of communication, the
dialogues of the characters are not natural, but theatrical, as if they do not think what they are
saying - the absence of compassion. Language is a defense mechanism, the need to talk is there
just to remind them that they are still alive, and their dialogue keeps them hopeful. This work
neither has a story nor do the characters search for the same, they just exist and exchange words
to remind themselves that they are not dead and wait for something, death, apocalypse, we do not
know. Although the characters can choose what to do and there are options, as for Beckett, who
sometimes sits, stands, lies down, or kneels, they also exist in time and space, in any posture.
The existence of the characters in Endgame is circular and consists of repetitions, routines, and
endless stories. Therefore, it is impossible to discern any meaning, because nothing has an end
and it is impossible to find meaning in something that is not yet a finished product. That is why
Endgame has no story but represents human existence in the sense of waiting, and the state of the
world as "zero". Those who do nothing, do not go anywhere but are in one place and nothing
happens to them (or they experience suffering), feel good that way, because they do not strive for
the "ideal" world, nor for meaning and stories - there are satisfied.
Although Beckett claims that you do not need a company, characters in the play do need it.
Hamm and Clov's relationship includes necessity in which both of them are inevitably dependent
on each other. They stay together waiting for the death or abandonment of Clov, with no hope in
their hearts. If the characters stop exchanging meaningless words in the work or break the circle
of routine, then their existence, which they tried to maintain with absurd dialogues, passivity, and
suffering, also ceases. This work puts meaning and the way we look at ourselves and the world
around us at trial. Just because we exist as individuals is enough and we do not need to look for a
story to be aware of the fact that we are alive. It only depends on how we interpret the meaning
or insignificance of our existence. That could be one conclusion, but another one is also possible,
and that is that Beckett does not believe his words. His denial of the story, meaning, and the
company could represent his longing for those. Moreover, his portraying meaningless existence
is one way of telling that there may be meaning and purpose in life, but people are not given it by
birth-- they have to seek it for themselves. If they do not want to look for these two, they end up
like Nagg and Clov, whose life is consisted of passive repetition. And so they became parts of a
machine that slowly stopped working, while something is "taking its course".

SECTION III
Please analyse the poem by Louis MacNeice below
- Titanic has played a prominent role in culture and inspired many works. After the disaster,
artists interpreted its meaning and significance in different ways.
This poem begins with a narrative about a childhood memory of when children watched the
newly launched boat „Titanic“ heading to the sea, never to return. This narrative is significant
and it accumulates the details of the scene. McNeice was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and
probably witnessed this event. It is known from his biography that his stepmother died shortly
after the event—she went to the hospital and never returned. It can be concluded from the title of
the poem, that the main theme is the death of an "old lady", probably his stepmother, and the
'death' of the Titanic. When it comes to death, writers usually write elegies and mourn a dead
person, however, this poem does not have the characteristics of an elegy, so it can be concluded
that the writer made his own, personal type elegy, remembering the death and the sinking of a
large ship, and compared them. The second stanza starts with „Named or called? For a name is
a call-„  and there is a dash, which indicates a longer pause, an abrupt break or hesitation before
continuing the poem. Naming and calling raise the motif of voices and language, as well
as „Shipyard voices at five in the morning“. The poet did not finish his thought but started
talking about the lady's death. He converted the voyage of the ship into an image of an old lady's
death who „sails towards her own iceberg calm and slow“. The poem connects the old lady's
demise with the poet's memories, using this metaphor of the ship. These moments seemed to be
momentous and sudden („We hardly hear the screws, we hardly can think her back her four
score years“) and because of their immensity were linked in the child's (or poet's) imagination.
The last stanza again mentions the voices "They called and ceased.", which can be related to
previous voices from the past. These voices are apparently at the old lady's funeral or deathbed.
From the last stanza, we find out that this happened one day in April and that at the end of that
day "the iceberg" (or death) was waiting for her, which shows that death is an inevitable journey.
On the whole, the poem speaks of a journey filled with death rather than of a successfully
completed journey. As stated earlier, this is not an elegy in which one mourns a deceased person,
rather it is the writer’s “elegy” about the inevitability of death. The writer does not mourn the
death of the old lady or the sinking of the Titanic, but rather expresses regret, like all men, for the
fact that we are mortal, and that death is inescapable.
As for the structure, the poem consists of third six-lines stanzas. The lines do not rhyme, and in
the last stanza there is a repetition of the words "down" and "wait". „The day went
down“ and „The sink went down“  puts the end of the old lady's day in connection to the end of
the great Titanic. The last stanza causes a sense of closure with both day and ship going down. 
To add, it is ironic that „at five in the morning“ in April which symbolizes spring and the birth
of something new, comes the end of someone's life. That same day, the Titanic embarked on its
maiden voyage, and the old lady embarked on her "voyage" on another ship - the ship of death.
They both started their journey slowly, and voices at the beginning did not anticipate what is
about to happen. This irony is supported by the poem's „old“ lady and a 'new' ship, which is an
example of juxtaposition. 
The last stanza ended calmly, the atmosphere was quiet and filled with waiting. Daffodils were
waiting to fulfill their purpose and make a wreath; the iceberg was waiting for the Titanic and
did not want to melt because it also had its purpose. When all is said and done, the poem began
with a spring morning and voices, then slowly calmed down, as the Titanic and the lady slowly
went on their journeys. Eventually, the voices stopped, the day went down, and so did the ship
( "went down" is used in different contexts, meaning that the sun moved below the horizon until
you cannot see it anymore (it is the evening) and the ship went down into the ocean).