Ideology and State Apparatuses (ISAs and RSAs): A Marxist Study of A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammad Hanif

Abstract

This research paper demonstrates the dominant power of ideology having a material existence, which leads people to become conformist of a state where the social and religious institutions used as tools to construct the subjects. It seeks to investigate one of the most notorious novels, A Case of Exploding Mangoes (2008) by Muhammad Hanif, under the theoretical underpinnings of Louis Althusser’s ideas of ideology, ideological state apparatuses (ISAs), repressive state apparatuses (RSAs), interpellation, and, most significantly, the subject model. The use of repressive state apparatuses (RSAs) in General Zia-Ul-Haq’s regime has been highlighted through the qualitative mode of inquiry. Catherine Belsey’s textual analysis method has been used to analyses the selected novel. The research pays close attention to General Zia-ul-Haq's administration and the ways in which Pakistanis were subjugated by ideological state apparatuses. This paper analyzes how Muhammad Hanif, deconstructs the social myths about General Zia and history in Pakistan.