298 Deconstruction S12

Deconstruction

"In the Gloaming" By Alice Elliott Dark pg. 688-704

 

Questions:

 

1. Based on the definition of the gloaming, what other predominant binary is associated with the gloaming? 
2. In what ways does Janet associate the gloaming with aspects of life instead of death?
3. Based on our society’s hierarchy which binary, life or death, is valued more?
4. How do the young and the old view life differently?
5. How do Janet and Martin deal with their dying son differently? 

 

 

 

Binaries and Selected Passages:

 

• Light/Dark
• Pg  692-693 (Quickly...even more)
• Pg 693 (She immersed....begin) 

 

• Young/Old
• Pg 704 (A child...to his mother)
• Pg 692 (As she came...watching him grow) 
• Pg 697 (He seemed...long enough) 

 

• Male/Female  
• Pg 693 (The truth was...dying son?)
• Pg 694 (She had often...weapons she had)
• Pg 700 (Martin rarely....for dinner)
• Pg 704 ( She could....darkness)
• Pg 704 (Please...boy like) 

 

 

Deconstruction Theory and Concepts:  

 

 

Deconstruction was founded in the mid twentieth century by French philosopher Jacques Derrida, as an opposition to the structural critic's manner of thinking. If structuralism seeks to views things not individually, but only as parts of a larger structure, then deconstruction does the opposite, breaking down the structure and analyzing its individual parts. Language is ambiguous, and therefore can be interpenetrated in a variety of different ways. Deconstruction seeks to decipher what the actual meaning of the language in a piece of literature is, as oppose to what the author's assumed meaning is. This is done by finding binaries, contradictions, and figues of speech in the text that, when viewed differently, result in different interpretations. Using these ambiguities, deconstruction involves asking questions in an effort to show that what the text claims to be saying is different than what it is actually saying.

 

 

 

 

Definitions:

 

Differerance -The meanings of words lie in the differences between them and the things they name.

 

Binaries -Polar opposites of each other whether it is words or themes in a story. 

 

Binary Opposition -It's when two binary thoughts are put against each other when analyzing.  

 

Hierarchies -Within binaries there is one term that our culture views as being superior and one term is viewed as negative or inferior.   

 

Signifier -A written or sound construction.

 

Signified -The concept, or idea, which is the meaning of the sign. 

 

Supplementation -Suggests that each of the two terms in such opposition adds something to the other and takes the place of the other. 

 

Undecidability - Debunks notion of reading as a decision making process. When a reader is forced with a choice of what could be happening with the text it is a feature of the text itself to have choices purposely there.

 

 

 

Additional Resources:

 

http://flash.lakeheadu.ca/~engl4904/index.html

Website explaining the critical literary theories

 

Ann B. Dobie. "Theory into Practice: An Introduction to Literary Criticism. 3rd ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2012. 149-171.

 

Works Cited:

 

Dark, Alice Elliott. "In the Gloaming." The Best American Short Stories. Ed. John Updike and Katrina Kenison. Mays. 9th ed. New York: Norton, 2007. 688-704.

 

Dobie, Ann B. "Deconstruction." Theory into Practice: An Introduction to Literary Criticism. 3rd ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2012. 149-171.