Chapter 2: Structuralism

By King Meera -
  • things are not understood in isolation
  • units combine with each other based on rules
  • the world is made up of structures, made up of systems, made up of units
  • structuralist analysis - interrelationship of units and rules - meaning
  • linguistics - a structuralist perspective: literary texts are made up of language, which is made up of words (units) and grammar (rules)
9 Nov 2015
  • structure is universal; content may differ - ex: Mad Libs
  • Meanings are outside; attributed - human mind structures units and rules to give meaning
  • focus on chickens (structures) not eggs (individual texts/ elements)
  • everything is understood in terms of larger context
  • structure remains constant - universal
  • elements and their interpretations may differ based on sociocultural context
  • no text has inherent, intrinsic meaning; meaning is attributed to it by us
  • deeply rooted in linguistics (the science of language)
Ferdinand de Saussure
  • literature is made up of language (language is a signifying system where signs communicate meaning)
  • the word "cat" or "tree" is associated with an idea that it represents: the first thing that comes to your mind when the word is articulated. Here, "cat" or "tree" is the signifier and our mental image or idea of the same is the signified
  • 3 major points:
  1. Meanings of signs are arbitrary (i.e. association of signifier and signified is not necessarily one-to-one. Many signifiers may refer to one signified. Many signified may be associated with the same signifier. The signified and signifier differ in different languages and even from person to person)
  2. Meanings of words are relational (relative) (language operates through differences - dyads or paired opposites - so we can say something is one thing because it is not its opposite. Likewise, synonyms are similar but not equal in meaning to each other)
  3. Language constitutes the world for you, that is, ideas do not pre-exist language
<30 Dec 2015 textbook notes>

 Structuralism 
France 1940
Britain 1970
influence and notoriety 1980's
NOTHING CAN BE UNDERSTOOD IN ISOLATION
(all things must be seen in the context of the larger structures they are part of)
* movement away from interpretation of individual work; parallel drive towards understanding the larger, abstract structures which contain them
* asked long-repressed questions such as what is "literary" even? How do narratives work? What is a poetic structure?
* WORLD <- Structures <- units (units combine using rules) (like grammar combines words)
* Swiss linguis Ferdinand de Saussure's three pronouncements that:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) The meanings we give to words are arbitrary and maintained by convention only
2) Meanings of words are relational
3) Language constitutes our world (it doesn't just record or label it)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
greatly influenced structuralists because it gave them a model of a system which is self-contained, in which individual items relate to other items and thus create larger structures
* Langue (language as a system or structure) and parole (individual utterances within the language)
* Scope: 
- language (Saussure)
- myths and kinship systems (Claude Levi-Strauss)
- culture, fashion, food (Roland Barthes)
Class notes:

Read the example of the 8:25 train in the textbook

  • Ferdinand de Saussure divides language into two: langue (abstract system of language as a whole - system - larger body of language) and parole (individual utterances)
  • more interested in langue (rather than parole)
  • two ways of making meaning:
  1. signification (connection between signifier and signified) (positive: x IS x)
  2. value (relation between signs within an entire signifying system) (chair, not desk/bench/cot/couch etc) (negative: x is NOT y/z etc)
14 Nov 2015, 9-10

Units in a system for paradigmatic or syntagmatic relationships
  • (choosing from vertical drop-down -> paradigmatic)
  • (arranging (as per grammar) -> syntagmatic)
Scope of structuralism
  • Saussure applied it to language alone, but Claude Levi-Strauss applied it to myths and kinship systems
  • since everything has a structure, comprised of units which come together using rules, myths are also structures, made up of mythemes
  • a mytheme is every incident in the myth
  • Oedipus myth placed within the larger structure of myths set in the city of Thebes, and mythemes (incidents) compared and arranged as per similarities and differences
Make a table of 5 columns and three rows. In the columns, at the very top, write "overrating of blood relations" "underrating of blood relations" "slaying of monsters" "difficulty walking". Under these, place individual incidents in the myths of the city of Thebes. The plot of individual myths can be read horizontally and overall themes are the column headings. Here, myth is langue and individual stories are parole.
P.S. Myth is an understanding or explanation of problems/complexities that are comprehensive at that point of time

Code:
  • every sign becomes a code when socio cultural significations are applied to it
Signifying system:
  • organized and structured signs with cultural meaning
  • operates through "codes"
  • literature, fashion, culture
  • signs gain meaning in context
Semiotics:
  • semeology in British :P
  • study of signs
  • interpretation of meaning communicated by signs is known as semiotic analysis
  • everything (food, film, music, language) can be subjected to semiotic analysis
Roland Barthes' denotative and connotative meaning:

                             _  Sign - red rose  _
Signifier "red rose"                            Signified (sound image)
                         \                                  /      
                               sign - red rose                sex, love, passion, proposal
                                    signifier        _               _      signified
                                                              SIGN
  • First order: literal meaning: denotative
  • Second order: cultural meaning: connotative
  • Helps us make meaning of the world: the way we know that wrestling is not boxing  that wrestling is about spectacle and pain, whereas boxing is about endurance - these are their connotative meanings
SYSTEM OF CODES:
  1. Proairetic code: signifies action ("the boy is running")
  2. Hermeneutic code: signifies suspense/mystery ("the girl is writing a letter" to whom? why? we'll never know)
  3. Cultural code: common knowledge beyond text (reason why Indians will understand Indian rituals, customs in a story)
  4. Semic/connotative code: introduces themes associated with characters that constitute them
  5. Symbolic code: signifies themes in the larger context of the text
Criticism of structuralism:
  • objectivity is a moot point when choice is involved: choice is subjective: one thing is preferred over another
  • Also, meanings of words are arbitrary, relational

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Atticus Passage

By King Meera -
This handout was prepared by Dr. William Tarvin, a retired professor of literature.  Note:  Text used:  W. H. Abrams, ed.   The Norton Anthology of English Literature , 7 th             ed.  Vol. 1.  New York:  Norton, 2000. I.    INTRODUCTION             1.   Dr. Arbuthnot was hopelessly ill and had written Pope a “last request” that the poet should continue to attack vice in his satires.               2.   This poem, basically written during the summer of 1734, was published in Jan. 1735, less than two months before Arbuthnot’s (1667-1735) death.             3.   Arbuthnot was Queen Anne’s favorite doctor and later held a similar relation to Princess Caroline, who in 1727 beca...
Read more

Lajwanti by Rajinder Singh Bedi

By King Meera -
Here is my write-up (assignment) (imperfect) (scored 15 on 20) (done for the sake of doing it) (many apologies) : The chapter Lajwanti by Rajinder Singh Bedi is set in the wake of the India-Pakistan Partition – specifically, the abduction of women on either side of the border. During the Partition, tens of thousands of Hindus and Muslims were forced to pack and leave, because suddenly, allegiance to one’s country was based on religion. Families who had been living on the “wrong” side of the border since generations had to migrate, at moment’s notice, to their “homeland”. In the midst of all this pain, anguish, separation and large-scale identity crises, displaced people began attacking the “enemies” – through thefts, violence and abductions, as was the case with the protagonist Sunder Lal, and his wife Lajwanti, who was abducted. In brief, the story Lajwanti is as such: Sunder Lal, after losing his wife Lajwanti to abductors, and abandoning all hope of finding her again, pu...
Read more

Jurmana - Premchand

By King Meera -
Image
Characters: 1. Munshi Khairat Ali Khan (Inspector of Sanitation) Goodhearted, well thought of, not the kind to cut pay, scold or fine the hundreds of sweeper women who depends on him 2. Alarakkhi (sweeper woman) Worked hard (was not a shirker, not slovenly or saucy, didn't look bad either) just had bad luck - the Inspector rode by precisely when she'd just sat down or stopped to eat 3. Alarakkhi's sick, unweaned daughter 4. Alarakkhi's helpful husband Huseni Plot: Alarakkhi is thinking about her pay and guessing how much would be deducted this time  considering, due to her daughter's illness, she'd been missed sleep and come in late several times the past month. Her daughter, whom she had brought with her to work, was wailing and she was threatening to hit her with the broom if she didn't stay quiet because the Inspector would be there soon. The inspector arrived on his bicycle instead of his ekka just as she was cursing him. He asks her why she ...
Read more