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English Honours
III year
Megha Mannan (0642)
Niyati Jaduan (0630)

Class assignment
Deconstruction: Feminist approach to deconstruction

Deconstruction is a critique of the relationship between text and

meaning originated by the philosopher Jacques Derrida. Derrida's
approach consisted in conducting readings of texts with an ear to
what runs counter to the intended meaning or structural unity of a
particular text. The purpose of deconstruction is to show that the
usage of language in a given text, and language as a whole, are
irreducibly complex, unstable, or impossible. Throughout his
readings, Derrida hoped to show deconstruction at work.

Three key features emerge from Derrida’s work as making

deconstruction possible. These are, first, the inherent desire to
have a centre, or focal point, to structure understanding
(logocentrism); second, the reduction of meaning to set definitions
that are committed to writing (nothing beyond the text); and,
finally, how the reduction of meaning to writing captures
opposition within that concept itself (différance). These three
features found the possibility of deconstruction as an on-going
process of questioning the accepted basis of meaning. While the
concept initially arose in the context of language, it is equally
applicable to the study of law. Derrida considered deconstruction
to be a ‘problematisation of the foundation of law, morality and
politics.’1 For him it was both ‘foreseeable and desirable that
studies of deconstructive style should culminate in the problematic
of law and justice.’2Deconstruction is therefore a means of
interrogating the relationship between the two.

Feminism and Deconstruction

Deconstructive strategies provided some valuable tools for the
feminist critique of hierarchical privileges and the dismantling of
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gendered binary oppositions which more than often ended up

devaluing non patriarchal and non heterosexual positions and
ways of thinking. In his essay, “Discourse of Others,” Craig Owens
undertakes a particular incisive study of the relation between
postmodernism (especially deconstruction) and feminism (Owens,
1998). Briefly, we may summarise the following issues highlighted
by deconstruction which became particularly useful as strategic
tools for feminist theorists: • Loss of mastery of one dominant
perspective and acknowledgement of plural perspectives; •
Undermining of the authority of the knowing (privileged male)
subject by those at the margins; • Exposing the tyranny of the law
of the signifier by showing how it permits only certain
representations while blocking others; • Undermining and exposing
logocentric and phallocentric discourses where the ‘other’ (woman)
is spoken for, but does not speak or represent herself; •
Encouraging a critique of hegemonic systems, especially
patriarchy; • De-centering the unitary, masculine subject and
enabling voices at the margins to make themselves heard.

Elizabeth Robins, The Convert

This novel, first published in 1907, brings to life Robin's experience and
that of her colleagues, Christabel and Emmeline Pankhurst, in the story
of Vida Levering, an upper-class British woman "converted" to the
working-class suffrage movement. In a suspenseful plot, Robins
contrasts the witty dialogue of elegant drawing rooms with the rough-
and-tumble outdoor meetings of Trafalgar Square, recreating them
almost word for word from actual accounts. Ultimately, Vida begins to
make her own first speeches and out of the tragic events of her past
devises a means of effecting women's political freedom. Jane Marcus
puts this "funny, moving, and beautifully structured novel" in a class
with Virginia Woolf's Night and Day.

The deconstructive feminist criticism for the text-

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 The text is deconstructive in the sense that for the

first time in a conversion novel, we had a woman as
the centre and the man as the ‘other’.
 The constant absence of vide from her own accounts
and the constant shift from herto others.i.e to a
woman to others and vice versa,gives us the multiple
perspectives of the two genders as well as
suffragettes vs men and their differences.
 The novel’s male characters uses catcharases.
Catchareses are words used in repetition to imply the
same meaning.the constant use of words like
“insane”,”touched”,”senseless”,”lunatics” reinforces
the idea that activist women were strange and dis
not deserve a place in the society(according to the
patriarchal world)
 The patriarchal outlook on feminists andwoman
activists is brought out altogether with women
activists struggle in a misogynistic patriarchal world.
 The innate use of words and by reading the implied
meaning behind them ,the deconstructionists try to
read how these belief in unitary male values was
formed and how can we include a women’s narrative
as well.
 The novel highlights ,through binaries,mens untired
hatred of thinking women.

The Woman Warrior

Author: Maxime Hong kingston
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The writer, Maxine Hong Kingston, was one of the leaders

during the second wave of feminism, where she and other non-

white writers focused on the connection of race-related topics

to feminism. The idea of intersectionality coined by Kimberlé

Crenshaw describes how various overlapping social identities

relate to oppression. Kingston analyzes the female identity of

Chinese-American women through criticism of misogyny in

Chinese culture and racism toward Chinese-Americans in the

U.S.

“The Woman Warrior” focuses on the relationship between

mother and daughter, reflecting aspects of Kingston’s life and

emphasizing the dynamic of female relationships as a whole in

a patriarchal society. She recounts learning about life through

the stories and memories of her mother and grandmother.

"The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among

Ghosts" is a collection of stories clubbed in five chapters.

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No Name Woman

The first chapter ,that the narrator discusses in the

memoir is 'No Name Woman'. It narrates a family secret about

an aunt who bears a child out of wedlock, causing shame and

the culmination of her being outcasted. One night her home is

raided by the villagers and she is left to give birth in a mess.

Next morning, narrator's mother finds her sister-in-law and the

new born infant dead in the well.

The narrator is never told the complete story which leads

her to explore the absences by herself. She talks about the

possibility of her aunt being raped or being sexually forward

that might have resulted in her being impregnated. The

narrator's declaration about her imagination allows the readers

to have their own point of view and their alternate version of

the story about the ' No Name Woman'.

White Tiger

The next story 'White Tiger' is about an empowered and

respected warrior woman - Fa Mu Lan. She contests Gender

identity by training as a male fighter to take place of her father

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in battle . When Mu Lan was 7-years-old , she followed a bird to

the mountains where she met an old man and a woman who

trained her to blend in with her surroundings and to gain

precision over her own body. She was made to run blindfolded

towards mountains where the White Tigers lived. She had to

figure the way back home on her own ,without any supplies .

She learnt the ways of the dragon and returned back disguised

as a man. She participates in the battle and wins it but this

story of a female warrior also culminates in marriage.

The narrator finds it hard to reconcile with the story. This

folklore seems to empower women by making a female the

hero of the battlefield but it also displays the old Chinese

sexism that creeps in when Mu Lan has to always disguise as a

man and marry in the end of the folklore.

Shaman

Shaman, in dictionaries, is explained as someone who has

access or influence over good and evil spirits. They are also

sometimes referred to as medicine man or medicine woman.

This memoir is about the narrator's mother, Brave Orchid.

It also explains that why her mother's name is Brave.

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Brave Orchid went to a medical school in China. Though

she was older than any of the girls in the school, it never

stopped her from pursuing her passion. She studied and

became one of the scholar students. She was smart and not

afraid of anything. She volunteered to sleep alone in a

supposedly haunted dormitory. Next, a sitting ghost pinned her

to bed. Brave, threatened it and berated it the next night.

Brave Orchid left China to join World War with her husband

.Brave , fighting against the ghost and joining world war is like

a woman warrior fighting against structures that are not

explicitly visible.

The Western Palace

The Western Palace is a story in which Brave Orchid brings

her sister, Moon Orchid to America. Brave wants Moon Orchid to

reclaim her status, after thirty years of marriage, as the wife of

a successful doctor in Los Angeles. When both the sisters meet

up with him to confront ,he asks Moon to go back stating that

he has a new family of his own. Moon begins to live with the

Mexicans. She soon moves in with her sister since she finds it

difficult to get accustomed to the American way of life. Her

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condition worsens, she is convinced that the government is

watching her and someone would come and take all of them

away. At the end of the chapter, Brave Orchid takes her sister

to a mental asylum, where she eventually dies.

The Western Palace also mocks the western way of living

where the lives of the coloured people are threatened by the

white racism and patriarchy.

A Song For a Barbarian Reed

This chapter encompasses many issues and events in the

narrator's life.

The narrator says that her mother cut her tongue when

she was born. This, probably means that she was not supposed

to voice her opinions. Brave Orchid claims that she did it to

help her daughter. We see that she has a hard time speaking up

except in the case of the mother. Narrator only talks through

the medium of the memoirs. We don't see her talking to any of

the characters in the memoirs .The idea of silence is prevalent

in her memoir. The silence takes the identity away as a

Chinese-American, a woman and a human being by preventing

them from having a voice. We also see her bullying a silent

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girl.This silent girl can be seen as the narrator's reflection. She

hates it that how she is never allowed to speak and ends up

hating and bullying the silent girl. All we know about the silent

girl is her silence which also holds true in the case of the

narrator.

The narrator takes up the issue of insanity. She talks about

several crazy women in her neighbourhood. She fears that she

will be the next. This creates a space where images of histeria

and 'The Mad Woman in the Attic'. It questions that why only

women in large numbers end up in histeria , why is this

condition not questioned . The real question is not how these

unnamed woman die rather why and what amounts to this

condition, why are they forgotten and ostracised by the society.

The book ends with a story that begins with Brave Orchid's

tale and ends with the narrator's. In China, Brave Orchid's

mother insisted her whole family attend the theater. When

bandits attacked one of the performances, her whole family

miraculously survived unscathed. From then on, Brave Orchid's

mother was convinced the theater would always keep them

safe. The narrator says she hopes her family got to hear the
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poetry of Ts'ai Yen. Ts'ai Yen was a scholar's daughter who was

kidnapped by barbarians. While living among them, she learned

to fight. She always felt alienated from the barbarians, even her

own children. One night, Ts'ai Yen became inspired to sing. Her

song fascinated the barbarians. She became a prolific poet.

When Ts'ai Yen was returned to her family, she brought a song

with her called "Eighteen Stanzas for a Barbarian Reed Pipe."

As the narrator says, "It translated well."

The song and the theatre saved life.

The readers must notice that theatre and the song are

both oral in nature hence challenging the patriarchal view that

writing, a predominantly male space is superior to the oral form

of literature.

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Stories that are told by brave through her daughter, both,

reflect and create a Chinese past.

Kingston rewrites the folklores with her own understanding

of the Chinese patriarchal society and exposes the unjust

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discrimination between women and men. The stories spoken by

the women in the Woman Warrior find their space along with

their own point of view too. Each female narrator is her own

author. The very contexts of 'talk story' constantly remind the

reader of a potential feminist perspective, with their strong

location in mother/daughter socialisation. The narrator's father

speaks but does not narrate or 'talk story'.

In western culture the privileging of writing is a patriarchal

system of representation. The female stories subvert a paternal

view. These stories question the reality of patriarchal hierarchy,

racism and sexism, Brave Orchid and her daughter could be

said to engage in feminist deconstruction.

An excerpt from One of the passage in The Woman Warrior

reads as-

I saw two people made of gold dancing the earth's dances.

They turned so perfectly that together they were the axis of the

earth's turning . They were light ; they were molten, changing

gold -- Chinese lion dancers, African lion dancers in midstep. I

heard high Javanese bells deepen the missing to Indian bells,

Hindu Indian, American Indian.

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These lines from the passage is a deconstruction of

hierarchy. The two dancers who are creating the world are not

represented hierarchically and neither is any of the religion or

ethnicity subjected to any order if the hierarchy. Kingston

banishes all hierarchical structures be it related to ethnicity,

race or gender.