'Hot' only means something because 'cold' exists — words get meaning from a whole system of contrasts. Structuralism studies that system; deconstruction then shows how those neat oppositions quietly unravel and undermine themselves.
Meaning from difference
Building on Saussure, structuralism holds that meaning arises not from things themselves but from their position within a system of differences. Texts are organized by binary oppositions (light/dark, nature/culture) that carry an implicit hierarchy. Structuralist critics analyze these underlying structures rather than authorial intent.
Jacques Derrida's deconstruction shows those binaries are unstable: the 'lesser' term is always secretly needed to define the 'greater' one. Close reading can make a text undermine its own oppositions, revealing meaning as never fully fixed.
A text privileging 'speech over writing' can be shown to depend on the very features of writing it dismisses — the hierarchy collapses on inspection.
- Identify the opposition nature/culture in a passage that praises 'the natural'.
- Ask how 'nature' is defined.
- Show that it is defined only against 'culture' — so it depends on its opposite.
What you should see: 'Nature' has meaning only in contrast to 'culture', so the privileged term depends on the one it excludes — the deconstructive move that destabilizes the hierarchy.