HERMENEUTICS

Jacques Derrida
Writing is a stranger to the internal
system.
Language had to do with
difference. To be able to speak ,
one has to know the difference
between words.
Deconstruction and difference go
together. Deconstruction
reverses a binary expression as in
speech/ writing.
Jacques Derrida

Derrida rejects the allegation

that structures of language
do exist.
Language is intentionality.
 DECONSTRUCTION
• Invites us to “unravel” the constructs around us and
to re-examine appearance and reality
• Seeks to show that a literary work is self-
contradictory

• If you have ever listened to someone explain a book,

a movie or any work of art (poetry, painting – even a
magazine article) and you wanted to interrupt and
say, “But I saw something that contradicts what you
are saying.” then you have practiced deconstruction.
 Deconstruction
• Focuses on contradictions in art
• Unravels binaries – shows they are unstable
• Explores unintended meanings in metaphors
• Explores instabilities in language
 Dismantling binaries
• In western culture, we think of things in
dualistic terms – oppositions
– Rich and poor
– Man and woman
– Sun and moon
– Day and night
– Masculine and feminine
– Life and Death
 Dismantling binaries
The French philosopher Jacques Derrida is the
“father of deconstruction.” He came up with
the term “deconstruction”. He states that
because western culture understands through
binaries, that we also naturally place one term
over the other in a hierarchy. Therefore one
term is “privileged” over the other. Let’s look
at the list again…
Dismantling Binaries

– Rich and poor

– Sun and moon
– Day and night
– Masculine and feminine
– Reason and emotion
– Life and death

– The positive or privileged term is usually, but not always

first – it is the standard that all else is compared to – it is
the positive concept, while all else is negative. One word is
always privileged over the other.
 Dismantling binaries
Deconstruction seeks to take apart this binary thinking
and prove it is false, that texts are more like eastern
philosophy – containing shades of gray.
One of the first things you do when deconstructing a
text is look for the binaries that the author sets up.
Then look for ways that author turns these binaries
“upside down.” Prove that one binary is not better
than another or that both concepts are necessary for
the other’s existence.
You can’t just reverse the binaries because deconstruction is after bigger
game, it "deconstructs" the underlying hierarchy set up in binaries.
Deconstruction doesn't simply reverse the opposition, nor does it
destroy it. Instead it demonstrates its inherent instability. It takes it
apart from within, and without putting some new, more stable
opposition in its place.

The Pooh movies are better than

the books Our sense of Pooh books is
(reverses the usual assumption that derived from the movies,
the book is better & more original
than the movie).

The Joker is cooler than Batman Batman is a special kind of villain

(reverses notion of the hero). called a vigilante

Women are smarter than men Men's sense of their intelligence

(reverses chauvinistic "common is dependent on a belief that
knowledge"). women are bimbos
 Exploring Metaphors
• Another tool for deconstructing art is to look
at any metaphors and figures of speech
present.
• Identify their intended meaning
• Identify any unintended meanings
 Practice with Metaphors
Love is a rose
Intended meaning is….
Unintended meaning is…

You are the sunshine of my life

Intended is…
Unintended is….
 The Instability of Language
The meanings we receive through language are
not fixed. If you say to a group of people, “I
have a nice car.” The sentence will conjure
different things in each person’s mind, due to
each person’s history, background and
experiences. It is also to understand the
context in which the statement is written and
made.
 Steps for Deconstruction
1. Upon first reading, write a brief summary of what MOST
people would say about the work.
2. Identify binaries in a chart (Binary finder)
3. Identify metaphors (intended and unintended meanings)
(metaphor magnet)
4. Look for any words that might have two meanings
(word doubler)
5. Look for contradictions (does something not make sense?)
(Contradiction Catcher)

6. Then write about how the work shakes these things up.
Level 2
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.