“Human beings are fragmented battlefields for competing ideologies whose only ‘identifies’ are the ones we invent and choose to believe” (Tyson 244).
Description of Theory:
Deconstructive criticism follows the belief that objects have meaning because that it was it has been defined as through language. Deconstruction uses the concept of binaries in which one object has been given a sort of privilege, the better appeal i.e. good/bad, love/hate, white/black, and male/female. In texts these binaries form the motif, or theme of a story. However the theory of deconstruction focuses on how the language of the text may appeal to one binary, but has signs that it favors the opposite, but not necessarily the privileged binary. Using this concept theorists judge such texts to have “dismantled” themselves.
Theory Benefit:
Deconstruction creates individual questioning of the traditional assumptions and prejudices, especially in how the lesser binary has shaped society.
Theory Disadvantage:
As the author is not always around to explain the meaning of a story any interpretation is up in the air, meaning the reader defines it, and if the author does explain their story than their answer might not be convincing, especially if the text contradicts.
Questions of Deconstructive Theorists to Interpret a Text:
These questions form the basis of what is the function of literature, to dismantle or to showcase?
- What is the theme of the work in relation to binaries and how is the favored binary dismantling the hierarchy of the privileged one or contradicting the binary it’s showcasing?
- What is the meaning of the text and what ideology or belief structure is it supporting or promoting?
Notable Theorist/s:
The most famous Deconstructionists is Jacques Derrida who described language as never being stable because any signifier (the object) can mean a range of signified (the idea or symbolism of the object) at any given moment therefore making language as ideological; we give it meaning.