A Study of Relations between Power and Ideology in the Novel "Beirut 75 Based on Critical Discourse Analysis

Power and ideology are two key concepts in the critical discourse approach, making discourse meaningful to maintain or change social relations. Ideology covers a set of beliefs and values that play a decisive role in power relations. It is an instrument for establishing unequal power relations in society and giving it legitimacy in critical discourse. The usefulness of examining power relations and ideology via critical discourse analysis is that the analyst seeks to discover the mechanism of social inequality at the substrates of the discourse. The novel Beirut '75 by Ghada al-Samman is an example wit many many underpinnings via which the writer critically criticizes class distance, the unfair power distribution, and authoritarianism. The present study aims to investigate the imbalance of power in situational contexts and to analyze the ideology behind the discourse. The results suggest that some linguistic features such as vocabulary, conditional clauses, tense, and simile play a significant role in highlighting the inequality of power distribution and establishing the opposition of the parties to the discourse. The discourse has two contexts that are different in terms of social, cultural, and worldview classes. Discourse, based on the ideology of authoritarianism, establishes social relations with the aim of achieving personal gain and with the slogan of service for service. Moreover, liberal ideology and values represent absurd traditions and anti-woman society. It represents a failed attempt to achieve freedom, defined in terms of wealth, fame, and power.