Cantos by Ericka Koehler

Post-structuralism is a movement that emerged in France as a criticism of structuralism. Some post-structuralists are Foucault, and Derrida. “Post-structuralism cuts off the signified from the signifier (“Module Three Overview,” 2021).”

Now, let’s talk about deconstructionism. According to Jacques Derrida “We can never truly know the definition of anything because we can never really say what something is (“Deconstructionism in Literature,” 2021). 

So, “no writing is completely cohesive and in agreement with itself, these disagreements allow us to read the text in multiple ways. Each of them is correct. The text is being deconstructed to its most basic form and read in light of the discrepancies that it causes; the possible readings of a single text are further multiplied by the individual reading and the time period in which is read an accurate representation of this idea comes from critic J Hills Miller. Deconstruction is not dismantling of the structure but a demonstration that it has already dismantled itself. It’s apparently solid ground. It’s not rock but thin air” (“What is Deconstruction?” 2015).

Imagine that I recently found a large wad of money in a wallet in my dresser. It is a wallet that I remember putting away many years ago but had since forgotten about it. While cleaning, I found this wallet and opened it to see what was inside.  To my surprise there were many bills in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, and 100 dollars.  In fact, there were many hundred-dollar bills, and after counting all the bills, I found this cash totaled about two thousand dollars!

In deconstructing this situation, we could say it was a very lucky thing to find all this money. After all, who doesn’t like free money.  This is a very positive thing. Now I can pay off my bills, and still have enough money left to buy some new clothes and go out to eat a few times. But, maybe it is not a good thing.  Maybe this money was needed 10 years ago to buy something important.  And instead of buying that thing with cash, I charged it on my credit card and paid interest for many years.  Maybe I wasted hundreds of dollars because I paid credit card interest.  Another possibility is that I have no idea who owns this money since I don’t remember putting it in there.  In that case, if I use the money, I am stealing from somebody.  Maybe I need to return it to its owner, but I have no idea who that is.  This causes stress and anxiety.  I don’t want to do something illegal. By simply reading the situation, there are many possible interpretations. Some are good and some are bad. Maybe it is even a combination of good and bad.

Another example are the emoji symbols of thumbs up and thumbs down.  Up is considered positive and down is considered negative by most people. However, we rely on the common understanding between people to know that up is good and down is bad. There is nothing in the symbols themselves to tell us which is good or bad.

                                             References

Deconstructionism in Literature: Definition & Examples (2021). Study.com. Retrieved from:

https://study.com/academy/lesson/deconstructionism-in-literature-definition-examples-

quiz.html

Module Three Overview (2021). LIT-300 Literary Theory. Southern New Hampshire University.

Retrieved from:

https://learn.snhu.edu/d2l/le/content/794553/viewContent/13816183/View

What is Deconstructionism? (2015). 60 Second Philosophy.

Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YueDATN7N4