Deconstruction: Love or Loathe it, or both!

           The second half of Appleman’s book introduces other literary lenses for reading literature, and they include the social construction of gender, postcolonialism, and deconstruction. Among these theoretical perspectives, I am interested in the chapter with the discussion of deconstruction and would like to focus on it in this response.

            Deconstruction, the word or the idea I have heard many times but have not understood what it really means. Whenever someone mentions “deconstruction,” I always wonder what it is and why it is needed.  I am as confused as students mentioned in Appleman’s chapter. However, as exploring more about this term and read through Appleman’s chapter, I stared to get a rudimentary understanding of what deconstruction is and even began to be fond of it.

            Although deconstruction is a term or an idea that can be difficultly defined, Appleman showed the gist of it by pointing out that “Deconstruction seeks to show that a literary work is usually self-contradictory” (p. 98). In following this statement, self-contradictory could be identified as the essence of deconstruction, and such self-contradictory nature could be intimidating because it might imply there is no truth existing. Take Holden’s narrative in The Catcher in the Rye as an example. In the novel, Holden always has a long train of thought that keeps his narration about one incident lasting for one or even two pages with a long paragraph. Within this incessant monologue, he would, at times, insert the phrase “if you want to know the truth.”  Even in the very first paragraph of the very first chapter, the phrase “if you want to know the truth” appears. What does it mean, then? From the deconstructive perspective, this phrase seems to imply that if Holden says, he will not tell the truth. However, Holden has already said a lot before this phrase pops up. So, does it mean he is lying? It seems that on the surface, Holden is telling the truth, but in fact, he is lying – the self-contradictory is played here.

            As I tried to use deconstructive lens to read The Catcher in the Rye, I began to understand why deconstruction puzzled or irritated students. A fuss but also a power statement made by a female student, Jessica, on page 108 presents students’ uneasiness and insecurity of using deconstructive lens to read literature, for deconstruction suggests no right or wrong and no black or write. It rejects binary and asks students to question their beliefs, their assumptions, and even everything they see and hear. Using deconstructive lens stirs emotions of confusion, rejection, and anger, putting people in the state of chaos at first. However, as I follow such non-linear thinking process of deconstructive point of view, I find that perhaps the world of deconstruction is the one that can portrait the reality most. Maybe it is its closeness to the real world that makes people love and/or loathe it. As for students, taking a deconstructive stand may help them find the connection and/or disconnection between the literary text and social text they live in.

(Source: axsoris.com)
Deconstruction: An apple or a orange?

Question: As I read Appleman's book, I feel that every literary perspective she introduced is Freire's critical pedagogy slightly. This makes me wonder: what is the difference between critical pedagogy and critical thinking?