Last week, I wrote a post about a song by Paramore that is about the process of Deconstruction. But this week, I want to delve a little further into the concept of Deconstruction and how you can deconstruct texts on your own, using something I like to call “The Deconstruction Map.”
Back in grade school, I feel like most literary concepts were explained to us using some sort of graphic, visual aid, or sorting chart, like the Venn Diagram for example. I think having a sort of visual aid formula to help guide you through a process can be the key to understanding how to go about practicing a new concept.
Today, I am going to be showing you my Deconstruction Map, and using the work of Taylor Swift in her song, “The Prophecy” to show you how you would want to go about filling out the map when you want to deconstruct a text of your own.
But first, in case you missed it last week, what is Deconstruction? Deconstruction, as written by Mary Klages on page 32 of Literary Theory: The Complete Guide is, “[...] a strategy of close reading a text, with an eye to how the text wants to claim one way of looking at things, one episteme, or worldview or logic, while the language of the text challenges or undermines that approach. Deconstruction is reading against the grain, reading what’s in the spaces between words, reading for what’s not said as much as what for what it is.”
According to the rules of Structuralism, texts contain binaries—ideas embedded within the writing that sort of come in a natural opposition to one another, a This vs. That, if you will, of which one will almost always be seen as preferred to the other. Each binary revolves around a center—a governing concept that rules each half of the binary, but does not have to follow those same rules, but is also not really “existent” or “relevant” without the things it rules. That kind of sounds like word salad, so allow me to give you an example:
In a classroom setting, there are students and a teacher. Without the teacher, the students are just a group of people who may act unruly. The teacher acts as a governing force. The teacher imposes rules in the classroom for the students to follow, but the teacher is not expected to follow the rules or participate in the class for a grade. The teacher in this case would be the center. But, with no students, the teacher is just a person in an empty room with nowhere to impose their rules. If the teacher can not be a teacher without students, is it really a force independent of rules? Can a teacher teach with no students? These are the questions that lead you into the realm of Deconstruction.
Where the rules and rigidity of a structure fall apart, or where there is “play” as Jacques Derrida would call it, that is where we can draw our own conclusions and rebuild our own structure, or take from the existing structure what we wish to believe. But this can only be done once we acknowledge that the structure is destructible or at all flexible.
Okay, now that we got that out of the way, I want to show you my template that I made for my Deconstruction Map.
In order to deconstruct, we must first find the Struct to De, so to speak. Where is the structure that upholds the text?
You will start by trying to extrapolate the binaries in the text? A This vs. That, if you will. There can be many different binary forces behind a text.
In the example I am choosing today, the song “The Prophecy,” by Taylor Swift, there are several binaries that I can extrapolate from the lyrics. I will include the lyrics here, if you wish to try this yourself before reading my own analysis.
Some of the various binaries I extrapolated from this text are: Fate vs. Circumstances, Faith vs. Hopelessness, Alone vs. Together, Stability vs. Desperation, Mature vs. Petulant, and Bargaining vs. Patience.
Notice how in each of the aforementioned binaries, there is one half that is regarded as the desirable trait/aspect en masse. Maturity, patience, and stability, for example, will all be seen as “better” than their counterparts of petulance, bargaining, and desperation. This is important to the idea of structuralism—that one half will always be seen as the better half.
From here, you want to determine which of your binaries best represents the overall idea behind the text. In this case, I selected Stability vs. Desperation. While I think a lot of these binaries are good representatives of the text, I feel that this one will most easily illustrate my point.
Next, you will want to find the center of that binary- the governing force between both sides of the binary, but is not bound to the same rules as either half of the binary.
I determined the center of Stability vs. Desperation to be Companionship. When one is with a companion, they are typically seen as more stable, which we have determined to be the more favorable trait. However, when one is without company, they are naturally inclined to feel a desire to attain it, and the longer one goes without it, the more desperate one becomes to get it, often resorting to drastic or garish measures, which, of course, is undesirable (more on that, later).
Following our map, we must next determine, in no particular order, the definition and antithesis of our center.
What does it mean to have companionship? Where can the concept of companionship begin to fall apart?
Defining companionship to me can be as simple as saying that it is being in a stable, healthy, pleasant, and deep relationship with a significant other. Or at least that’s what that would mean within the context of this song.
On the other hand, the concept of companionship begins to crumble when one is perhaps in a relationship that is loveless or strained or erratic. Or when one is aromantic or asexual or is otherwise fulfilled solely by platonic or familial connection, or maybe by none at all. Or when one is constantly jumping from relationship to relationship while keeping everyone at arm’s length and not taking the time to know or be known by someone. There are a lot of ways in which we can start to find the concept of “Play” that dissipates from the Center of Companionship.
How in the text can the Central Concept be undercut? Where could we find a way in which this binary stops being upheld? This step is sort of a combination between the previous and next steps and I would consider it to be more optional, but if the concept is new to you, I wouldn’t opt to omit this step.
Earlier, I mentioned that when one is in a situation of dire desperation they might resort to garish measures in order to achieve their desired result, which in this case is our Center, Companionship. By acting in an unruly manner, they may be deterring potential partners from their path, leaving them terminally unaccompanied. Another way in which our speaker could stop enforcing this binary is by finding stability in desperation and in their loneliness. Instead of pleading for a chance at true love, this speaker could instead accept their seemingly fated loneliness and doomed relationships and find solace in that. Then, the idea of needing companionship for stability would fall apart. If no one needs companionship to be stable, then no one becomes desperate for companionship, and then the whole idea falls apart. This is what Deconstruction is.
The final step is seeing where in the explicit text, the center and the binary (of choice) begin to fall apart. Where in “The Prophecy” does Taylor stray away from the idea of desperately needing companionship in order to feel stable? Frankly, this song is pretty desperate, not that there is anything wrong with that, however, as I mentioned now twice, the speaker behind this text is seemingly resorting to these rather jarring methods of finding a partner. Specifically in the bridge of the song, in the lines, “A greater woman stays cool / But I howl like a wolf at the moon / And I look unstable / Gathered with a coven ‘round a sorceress’ table [...] Spending my last coin so someone will tell me it’ll be okay.” In these lines, if we choose to take them as literal and not metaphorical, the speaker is engaging in forms of witchcraft and spending money on perhaps psychic readings or tarot readings, and has overall seemingly lost her marbles trying to be convinced she will find love. In certain forms of witchcraft, love and attraction spells can be performed, which, in turn, can draw a partner to you against their will, which I think is not indicative of a healthy stable relationship.
There is also the repeated lyric of thinking she caught lightning in a bottle with her relationships but they keep disappearing. To me, it shows that relationships are fleeting and never guaranteed, which deconstructs the idea that companionship will lead to stability.
If we open up the discussion to the rest of Swift’s work that was written throughout her 7 year relationship, you will find that she often felt extremely unstable despite this relationship, and, in fact, she felt unstable because of this relationship. This led her into an even more unstable rebound relationship, though I'm not here to dig into personal pop-star drama today.
But even still, solely speaking in terms of “The Prophecy,” the idea that companionship will inherently lead to stability starts to falter when you consider the idea that maybe she is unable to attain secure relationships because of her desperation to have them, which leads to a cycle of perpetual deranged disillusionment and solitude. People search for stability in a companion, not to create stability for a companion (usually—if they are a well-adjusted person, that is).
Now what? Deconstruction does not have to be the “Truth” behind a piece, so to speak, but rather it can be used solely as a method to garner a different understanding of a text. Some texts may be extremely grounded in their structure to the point where it can feel impossible to deconstruct them. With Deconstruction, it is important to note that you do not have to entirely dismember a body of text and then reject the grounds on which it stands, but instead, you can merely consider a potential lack of solid ground, and use that to further your understanding of a given text, as well as other texts you may choose to indulge in the future. It can also help you to generate new ideas and frameworks when creating your own bodies of work.
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