Deconstruction

According to deconstruction, when you analyse a text, you will find that there is no single meaning in a text – not in the author’s mind and world, not in the text itself, and not in the reader’s mind and world. It relates to language and, to a lesser extent, form. The meaning of a text is deconstructed by recognising that, no matter how hard we try, we cannot perfectly communicate any kind of meaning through the use of language. Deconstructionists try to find any possible way of interpreting a text other than the obvious ways. They look for any potential failures in communication, and run with those, instead of focussing on the most likely of meanings. They start out in a similar way to the new critics: they identify tensions, and identify unity that seems to resolve tensions. But then they point out how the tensions are not actually in opposition in the first place. If you want to read a text like a deconstructionist, figure out what the meaning of the text probably is, then ask really specific questions about that meaning until you reach the conclusion that there is no real meaning. The conclusion is already set; your job is just to find a way to get there.