Literary Theory: Structuralism

Workshop Links: YouTube Video for Asleep Padlet Prezi

Key Assumptions of Structuralism

Structuralists believe that codes, signs, and rules govern all human social and cultural practices, including
communication and that a study of the system of roles that govern literary interpretation is the main task
in literary criticism (Bressler 98-99).
According to the linguistic theories of Ferdinand de Saussure, language is a system based on differences.
For example, we know that a ball is a ball because of all of the things that it is not. Therefore, meaning is
found by analyzing the word in relation to the larger system (Bressler 95-98). To apply structuralism to
literature, we assume that literature is also a system with its own rules and codes.

Important Theorists
Claude Levi-Strauss - Studied myths to uncover their common structure and building blocks which he
called mythemes; also emphasized binary oppositions in myths in order to highlight the intertextuality of
structure as it creates meaning.
Roland Barthes - Asserts that all language is its own self-enclosed system based on binary operations
(difference) and that only through recognizing the codes or binary operations within the textcan the
message encoded within the text be explained (Bressler 102).
Vladimir Propp - Studied Russian fairy tales in order to understand their underlying structural systems and
identified thirty-one elements, called narratemes, which form predictable patterns that central characters,
such as the hero, the villain, or the helper, enact to further the plot of the story (Bressler 103).

Questions for Analysis (Adapted from questions and ideas in the three works which are cited below)
What are the major and minor tensions and binary oppositions in the text? How does the relation and
intertextuality of these binaries contribute to the development and interpretation of meaning in the text?
In what ways does The Perks of Being a Wallflower fit within the system of Young Adult literature?
In what does the novel conform to and diverge from the typical coming-of-age novel? How does this
impact the meaning of the text within the system of YA literature?
How does the epistolary format of the text create and impact meaning?
What rules or codes of interpretation must be internalized in order to 'make sense' of the text?

Works Cited

Bressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism: an Introduction to Theory and Practice. Pearson Longman, 2011.

Matos, Angel Daniel. "Writing through Growth, Growth through Writing: The Perks of Being a Wallflower and the
Narrative of Development." ALAN Review, vol. 40, no. 3, 2013, p. 86.
https://angeldanielmatos.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/perks-article.pdf

Structuralism and Semiotics (1920s-Present). Purdue Online Writing Lab, Purdue University,
owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/07/. Accessed 25 Feb. 2017.