DEFINING ‘STRUCTURALISM AND ITS BACKGROUND.

BY MOMINA.
WHAT IS STRUCTURALISM?
Structuralism can be defined as a way of thinking that analyzes things by focusing on the underlying structures that hold
them together. Instead of just looking at the individual bricks (history, language, myths, etc.), structuralism looks at how those
bricks connect to create the bigger structure (culture, society, etc.)
Structuralism wasn't exactly a literary movement in the traditional sense, where writers banded together with a specific style.
It was more like a critical lens applied to literature in the mid-20th century.

 Structuralism borrowed heavily from the work of Ferdinand de Saussure, who studied language as a system of signs.
Structuralist critics saw literature as a similar system, with elements like characters, plot, and setting functioning like parts
of speech.
 Instead of analyzing a novel based on the author's intention or the reader's experience, structuralists looked for underlying
patterns and recurring structures within the text itself.
 Structuralists often identified key oppositions within a story, like good vs. evil, order vs. chaos, or nature vs. nurture. These
binaries helped reveal the deeper meaning and function of the narrative.
 Structuralists also considered how a text interacted with other texts. They looked for references, myths, or archetypes that
connected the work to a larger cultural conversation.

In essence, structuralism emerged as a reaction to existing paradigms and a search for new ways to understand the world. It
offered a unified approach that appealed to scholars across various disciplines.
• Following the devastation of World War II, there was a general sense of disillusionment with
existing ways of understanding the world. Traditional approaches in various fields, like literary criticism
focusing solely on authorial intent or historical context, seemed inadequate.
• Ferdinand de Saussure's work on structural linguistics in the early 1900s provided a powerful
model. Saussure proposed that language functioned as a system of signs, where meaning arises from the
relationships between elements, not their individual definitions. This resonated with scholars who saw
similar structures underlying other cultural phenomena.
• The post-war era fostered a search for objectivity and a unified approach to understanding human
creations. Structuralism offered a seemingly objective methodology for analyzing culture and society.
• Structuralism wasn't limited to linguistics and anthropology. Thinkers like Roland Barthes and
Michel Foucault drew on structuralist ideas to analyze various aspects of culture, including literature, art,
and history; both Barthes and Foucault took structuralist ideas and pushed them further. Barthes
challenged the focus on the author and explored hidden meanings within texts. Foucault focused on
power structures and how they shape our world, acknowledging the dynamism of these structures.
 Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," published in
There is said to be some connection 1960, offers fertile ground for a structuralist
between Russian Formalism and analysis.
Structuralism, this is how we evaluate The story revolves around the contrast between Scout and
that; Jem's innocent childhood perspective and the harsh realities

 Both Russian formalism and structuralism of racial prejudice they encounter in Maycomb County.

were inspired by Ferdinand de Saussure's (innocence vs experience) The trial of Tom Robinson exposes

work on structural linguistics. However, the deep-seated racial injustice within the legal system,

formalists were primarily interested in how contrasting with Atticus Finch's unwavering pursuit of

literary devices functioned within a text, justice. (justice vs injustice) The Finch family represents a

while structuralists sought to uncover struggle to uphold civilized values like empathy and courage

deeper, universal structures underlying all amidst the town's underlying brutality and racism.

human creations. (civilization vs brutality) depicting the concept of binary

 Structuralism didn't directly emerge from opposition
Russian formalism. It developed in Western The story is narrated by Scout, both as a child experiencing
Europe after World War II, drawing on the events and as an adult reflecting on them aka duality of
Saussure's work and the broader intellectual narrators. This creates a layered structure, highlighting the
climate of the time. While some structuralist contrast between childhood innocence and the wisdom
thinkers like Roman Jakobson were gained through experience. The novel follows Scout and
acquainted with Russian formalism, it wasn't Jem's journey from childhood to a more mature
the sole or even primary influence. understanding of the world, a classic coming-of-age
structure. The mockingbird, a harmless creature targeted for
amusement, becomes a recurring symbol of innocence and
vulnerability in a world marred by prejudice.
THAT’S ALL
 While Structuralism's Dominance Has
Waned, It Paved The Way For Later
Movements And Remains A Valuable Tool
For Analyzing Systems And Their
Underlying Structures Literary Theory
Ronald Barthes was a French essayist and social
and literary critic whose writings on semiotics, the
formal study of symbols and signs pioneered by
Ferdinand de Saussure, helped establish
structuralism and the New Criticism as leading
intellectual movements.

Barthes’ Writing Degree Zero examines the

development of literary forms and analyses the
literary movements represented by Flaubert and
Mallarme. He points out that these writers attempt
to divorce language from its sociality, to promote
the creation of form as an end in itself, and to
create “natural” modes of writing. In opposition to
this, Barthes argues that language is inextricably
Here are the detailed important points about Barthes' work in "Mythologies":

Critique of Bourgeois Culture: Mythologies expressed Barthes’ resentment

of the bourgeois attempts to naturalize or universalize their values and agenda,
so that such values become the norm, and the rest become aberration and
abnormality.

Ideological Analysis: Barthes doesn't simply analyze cultural objects, but

uses them to reveal the underlying ideology of the bourgeoisie.

Concept of Myth: He introduced the concept of myth (which serves the

purpose of such mystification), while he also cautions that there are no eternal
myths, for myths are created by the bourgeoisie in every society.

Structure of Myth: Barthes’ concept of myth has a tridimensional pattern

where the signified of the first order signification becomes the signifier of the
second order signification, through the operation of difference. Therefore, myth
consists of two semiological systems, where the object of the first is language
and the second is myth or the metalanguage, which has multilayered
signification, which Barthes illustrates with the example of the cover page of a
Parisian magazine, where a young negro in French uniform salutes with his
eyes uplifted, probably gazing at the French flag.

Myth as Deceptive Language: Myth is a type of speech defined more by its

intention than by its literal sense. Barthes explains that myth “essentially aims
at causing an immediate impression,” thereby encouraging the illusion and
that myth is factual, while actually it is not.

Politicization of Culture: By naturalizing history and depoliticizing speech,

One of the most distinguished thinkers in linguistics, philology and aesthetics,
roman Jakobson was a Russian born American linguist and Slavic-language
scholar, a principal founder of the European movement in structural linguistics
known as the Prague school. Jakobson extended the theoretical and practical
concerns of the school into new areas of study.

In the Jakobson model of communication (either oral or written) the following six
constituent elements play pivotal roles:
• Context
• Referential
• Message
• Poetic
• Addresser
• Addressee
• Emotive
• Conative
• Phatic
• Code
• Metalingual.
i) A message is sent by an addresser to an addressee. To facilitate this, they need to use a common code, a conduit/channel of
communication, and the same frame of reference. Each of these elements has a corresponding function in the communicative act.

(ii) Language seen from the addresser’s point of view is emotive (expressing a state of the mind). Seen from the addressee’s perspective
language is conative (seeking an “effect”).

(iii) If communication concerns itself with the context it is referential (which privileges the information content of any utterance) if the
communication is oriented towards the code of communication it is metalinguistic (the query “do you understand me?” typifies this nature).

(iv) When the message focuses on the words of the message itself, that is when the communication draws attention to itself, it is poetic.

(v) And finally, when the communication focuses on the act of contact it is phatic.

(vi) Jakobson’s work with aphasics (people with a speech disorder) resulted in his analysis of figurative language. Adopting the two distinct
uses of language namely selection and combination, Jakobson elaborated the terms metaphor and metonymy.

(a) In metaphor one sign is substituted for another, entailing a transfer of meaning between two unrelated domains. An ex-ample
would be the use of the words “jealous” and “green.” Here to “go green” commonly implies the state of being jealous. However, there is no
logical or semantic link be-tween the two. That is, the two words/ideas of the emotive state and the colour are actually unrelated

(b) In metonymy one sign is associated with another, where it utilizes a term that is a ‘property of the key word, or is related to it
contiguously (example: “sail” for “ship,” since sail is a part of the ship). In poetry the metaphor is used more often than metonymy because
the stress in poetry is on similarity and/or startling opposition. Metaphor therefore involves a transfer of sense, whereas metonymy involves
only a transfer of reference (part for a whole, but not a totally unrelated term/domain). Selection and substitution constitutes the metaphoric
pole, and combination and contextualization the metonymic pole.

(vii) “Poeticity” or the poetic function is a necessary part of the study of language because language and reality (or, in Saussurean terms,
sign and referent) do not coincide. In order to study the poetic rhythm Jakobson developed phonology, and was one of the first to analyze the
sound, phonemic oppositions, opposition in sound and vision, between pitch and rhyme in poetic discourse.
(
Jacques Lacan, a French psychoanalyst, was a major figure in Parisian intellectual life for much of the
twentieth century. Sometimes referred to as “the French Freud,” he is an important figure in the history of
psychoanalysis, made significant contributions to structuralist literary theory, particularly through his
application of psychoanalytic concepts to the interpretation of literature. Here are some key aspects of
Lacan's contribution:

Mirror Stage: Lacan's concept of the mirror stage, which he introduced in his early work, describes a crucial
phase in a child's development where they recognize themselves in a mirror and form their sense of identity.
This concept is often applied to literature to analyze characters' development and the formation of their
identities.

The Symbolic Order: Lacan's theory of the symbolic order, influenced by structuralist linguistics and Freudian
psychoanalysis, posits that language structures human experience and shapes subjectivity. In literature, this
concept is used to explore how language constructs meaning and identity within texts.

The Imaginary, Symbolic, and Real: Lacan's tripartite model of the psyche—imaginary, symbolic, and real—
offers a framework for analyzing the layers of meaning in literature. The imaginary pertains to images and
fantasies, the symbolic to language and culture, and the real to the unsymbolizable and traumatic aspects of
experience. Literary texts often engage with these layers, revealing complex psychological dynamics.

Desire and Lack: Lacanian theory emphasizes the role of desire and lack in human subjectivity. Desire is never
fully satisfied, and it is mediated through language and social structures. In literature, characters' desires and
their inability to fully achieve them drive narrative conflicts and contribute to the overall meaning of the text.

The Phallus and Castration: Lacan's concept of the phallus, not to be understood solely in biological terms but
as a symbolic signifier of power and lack, is central to his psychoanalytic theory. The theme of castration,
stemming from the lack inherent in human subjectivity, is often explored in literature through motifs of loss,
absence, and desire.

The Gaze: Lacan introduced the idea of the gaze as a powerful symbol of desire and lack, suggesting that the
act of looking and being looked at carries significant meaning. In literature, the gaze is often employed as a
That’s All