Deconstructionist Literary Criticism Deconstructionism liberates the notion of text from a discernible epistemological center. There is no absolute underlying structure to which a text must be accountable. Language is important, Jacques Derrida asserts, but do not believe for one moment that it is stable; it exists in an infinite "interplay of signification" (961). He also describes writing, rather than speech, as the primary foundation for language. What does this do to textual meaning? Can it even exist? "The concept of centered structure is...the concept of freeplay based upon a fundamental ground" (Derrida 960). Deconstructionist criticism attempts to show that the dynamic "freeplay" of differences in signs (stated and unstated) within a text give rise to meaning without this fundamental ground. Deconstructionist critics hope to reveal the point at which a text collapses in upon itself, the point at which it says something it ostensibly does not mean to say. Works Cited Derrida, Jaques. "Structure Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences" The Critical Tradition. Ed., David H. Richter, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989.
One of Buck's Internal Conflict is choosing between a master or a wolf pack(love of John Thornton and the Call of the wild).
“Often fear of one evil leads us into a worse”(Despreaux). Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux is saying that fear consumes oneself and often times results in a worse fate. William Golding shares a similar viewpoint in his novel Lord of the Flies. A group of boys devastatingly land on a deserted island. Ralph and his friend Piggy form a group. Slowly, they become increasingly fearful. Then a boy named Jack rebels and forms his own tribe with a few boys such as Roger and Bill. Many things such as their environment, personalities and their own minds contribute to their change. Eventually, many of the boys revert to their inherently evil nature and become savage and only two boys remain civilized. The boys deal with many trials, including each other, and true colors show. In the end they are being rescued, but too much is lost. Their innocence is forever lost along with the lives Simon, a peaceful boy, and an intelligent boy, Piggy. Throughout the novel, Golding uses symbolism and characterization to show that savagery and evil are a direct effect of fear.
ABSTRACT: In what follows, I give (following Burton Dreben) a dialectical reading of his dismissal of metaphysics and of Wittgenstein's objections to Russell in 1913. I argue that Wittgenstein must be read as advocating no particular theory or doctrine — that is, philosophy is an activity and not a body of truths. Furthermore, this insistence is thoroughgoing. Put differently, a dialectical reading must be applied to one's own thought and talk. Characteristically, this sort of dialectical philosophy begins with the question, Is there any definiteness to what I am doing in my own thinking and speaking? Such a question undercuts the easy assumption that what we are doing may be expressed in a body of meaningful statements. In particular, I argue that Wittgenstein does not advocate any particular theory of language. A common reading of Wittgenstein is that he aims to prevent us from misusing language. This view assumes that, for Wittgenstein, the notion of a correct, acceptable or meaningful use of language may be taken for granted. In my view, Wittgenstein does not take the notions of use of language and grammar and its misuse for granted. For Wittgenstein grammar underdetermines what it is to use or misuse language. I argue that an ethical critique is implicit in Wittgenstein's objections to any attempt to speak a priori about language and thought.
Deconstruction or poststructuralist is a type of literary criticism that took its roots in the 1960’s. Jacques Derrida gave birth to the theory when he set out to demonstrate that all language is associated with mental images that we produce due to previous experiences. This system of literary scrutiny interprets meaning as effects from variances between words rather than their indication to the things they represent. This philosophical theory strives to reveal subconscious inconsistencies in a composition by examining deeply beneath its apparent meaning. Derrida’s theory teaches that texts are unstable and queries about the beliefs of words to embody reality.
The novella The Call of the Wild is a story of Buck overcoming challenges while being thrown into the real world and learning new traits like persistence and resilience. Protagonist Buck is a colossal St Bernards cross Scotch shepherd dog, transforms from a humble house dog and then eventually returns to a primordial state as a best of the wild. Along the way he is faced with an endless array of challenges. London achieves this by portraying Buck’s change in character in a manner that explores and incorporates diverse motifs.
Texts can be analyzed both intrinsically and extrinsically which are various techniques used for analysis. Contrary to the intrinsic analysis, the extrinsic attitude lays emphasis on what is outside the text and how the language used can be related to the issues that happen in our societies. Extrinsic analysis has a broader surface because it consists of diverse theories including Marxist Literary Criticism, Post Colonial Theory, and Feminist Literary Criticism, just to cite a few.
Death can both be a painful and serious topic, but in the hands of the right poet it can be so natural and eloquently put together. This is the case in The Sleeper by Edgar Allan Poe, as tackles the topic of death in an uncanny way. This poem is important, because it may be about the poet’s feelings towards his mother’s death, as well as a person who is coming to terms with a loved ones passing. In the poem, Poe presents a speaker who uses various literary devices such as couplet, end-stopped line, alliteration, image, consonance, and apostrophe to dramatize coming to terms with the death of a loved one.
Brutus was a key figure in the assassination of a well-loved public figure that helped bring Rome to great prosperity. By the time of his assassination, Caesar had greatly grown in power and had won over most of the public to the point of near fanaticism. Considering
Buck is from a household where nothing is hard for him to do, and he always has plenty to eat. Out in the wild, overtime Buck learns how to survive like a wild dog. For example, he learns how to make a bed by digging a hole in the snow that way his body heat is in the hole, while the cold air is blowing around above. Another example would be that he learns how to be sneaky like one of his other dog friends, and is able to take his masters food without them looking.
As he starts to understand the law of club and fang, Buck lands in Dyea Beach, his first night at camp Curly (A fellow dog purchased with Buck by Perrault) dies.When the dogs forsaken Curly’s body after the fight, “But she lay there limp and lifeless in the bloody, trampled snow, almost literally torn to pieces, this word half-breed standing over her and cursing horribly. The scene often came to book to trouble him in his sleep. So that was the way. No fair play. Once down that was the end of you” (London 32). When Curly dies in a dogfight against a more experienced husky, he was torn to shreds by other surrounding dogs. This is called the wolf-manner of fighting. The wolf-manner of fighting is not only to strike and leap away, but to win by strength, decisiveness, and to gain from other weaknesses. Curly was the first dog that Buck would see killed, he is so traumatized by this event that he promises himself that he would never lose. By that changing himself to represent less a follower and more of leader, and as much as he tries not to develop attachment to humans or other dogs. As Buck changes and adapts to his new environment he keeps this promise and figures out a ways to harness his power. Later on, the Yeehat tribe invaded John Thornton’s camp and killed him, Buck leaps into action and kills a couple members
at the end, buck has adapted to being wild and soon becomes part of a wolf pack. first, buck begins to kill wild game. for example buck kills bear, wolverines, moose etc. since buck starts killing the wild game he is becoming wild. second, buck kills yeehats for instance buck rips out their throats and runs them down since buck killed a human he is wild. last, buck becomes part of a wolf pack. for example buck battles his way into the pack, and becomes the leader since buck is pack of a wolf pack he becomes a ghost dog and is
He argues that one may be able to note the intentionality but he/she may not be able to know the intention, and this makes it important to differentiate between text and discourse. Discourse is responsible for finding the intention of the text by relating its content to the extralinguistic reality. The process of relating the text to the extralinguistic reality, which is the discourse, results in the text. Widdowson thus defines discourse as “the pragmatic process of meaning negotiation” and the text as “its product” (p.8). Other scholars who distinguish between text and discourse in terms of product and process are Brown and Yule (1983). They state that “the discourse analyst treats his data as the record (text) of a dynamic process in which language was used as an instrument of communication in a context by a speaker/ writer to express meanings and achieve intentions (discourse)’ (Brown and Yule, 1983:26). It can be noted that Brown and Yule’s description of text and discourse is similar to that of
what meets the eye. So in an odd way then, Shelley leaves us to decide
“There are no facts, only interpretations”, said famous French philologist Friedrich Nietzsche on the topic of deconstruction. It is this quote that we are opened into the world of deconstruction, a world where “language doesn’t reflect or convey our world but constitutes a world of its own”. Deconstructionists believe that language is the barrier that forces thoughts to lose their purpose. The moment you share an idea from the inner workings of your mind, whether it be written or spoken, is the moment the idea is lost in translation. In order to understand deconstruction, one mu...
Stoehr, Louise E. “Perspectives on Discourse Analysis: Theory and Practice.” ebscohost.com. 20100825. Literary Reference Center. 20 December 2011.