Structuralism in literature is most concerned with how narrative stories take on larger cultural meaning. Each story takes on the similarity at the widest level and differences are emphasized later on. Structuralists believe that meaning is created in relation to other signs or binary oppositions. One thing cannot be defined without the presence or absence of the other. For example, light and dark. Language constitutes our reality- our experiences are lived in language, not outside it, therefore we cannot escape it. The structures of literary works reflect the ways of categorization and experience in the human mind.

Questions asked by structuralists include: What pieces of this have we seen before? In what context? What patterns can we predict? What rules cause or signal differentiation? How does this relate to culture as a whole?

Ferdinand de Saussure developed structural linguistics. He believed language was not just a collection of individual words with individual histories but a structural system of relationships among words as they are used at any given point in time. He called the structure of language, langue, which included the grammar rules that govern how it functions. He also introduced the term parole, which is the individual utterance, and it reveals the langue. These terms are used by structural critics.

Claude Levi-Strauss contributed structural anthropology. He wanted to find the underlying common denominators and/or the structures that link all human beings regardless of the differences among the surface of different cultures. He investigated the structural similarities among seemingly different cultures. He claimed the structural similarities reveal that different cultures share structures of consciousness that project themselves into the formation of structurally similar myths; myths being a form of narrative. This lead to the belief of all literature consisting of retelling of the same myths.