What is deconstruction?
Q: What is deconstruction?
A: Deconstruction is a way of understanding how something was created, usually things like art, books, poems and other writing.
Q: What does deconstruction look at?
A: Deconstruction looks at the smaller parts that were used to create an object, with the smaller parts usually being ideas.
Q: What does deconstruction sometimes look at in regards to writing?
A: Sometimes deconstruction looks at how an author can imply things he does not mean. It says that because words are not precise, we can never know what an author meant.
Q: What does deconstruction pay attention to in regards to opposites?
A: One thing it pays attention to is how opposites work. (It calls them "binary oppositions.") It says that two opposites like "good" and "bad" are not really different things.
Q: What does deconstruction argue about the meaning of books and poems?
A: Deconstruction argues that books and poems never just mean what we think they mean at first. Other meanings are always there too, and the book or poem works because all of those meanings work together.
Q: Does deconstruction argue that we can know exactly what an author meant?
A: No, deconstruction argues that we can never know exactly what an author meant, because words are not precise.
Q: What is the purpose of deconstruction?
A: If we deconstruct some things, we can learn more about them and about how talking and writing work.
