This is a Deconstruction essay on the story “Desiree’s Baby.” To write it well, you need to make sure you can explain the obvious meaning of the story and then to reverse this meaning, to show that the story has a different meaning, an opposite meaning, a hidden meaning.
Link to Kate Chopins short story “Desiree’s Baby”
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/DesiBaby.shtml
At some point you should be saying something along the lines of “although this story seems to be sayinig ABC, in reality it is saying XYZ.” ABC will explain the obvious meaning of the story, and XYZ the hidden meaning.
Textbook for descriiption of and use of Deconstructive Criticism used is Steven Lynn. Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical Theory.6th ed. Longman. Other editions will work too. Just make sure you check the titles of chapters when a chapter is assigned. Chapter 5 is the chapter on Deconstruction Criticism.
*Please don’t retell the story (a common mistake). Your essay should be arguing a position and you will be using the facts in the story to support it, not to tell the reader what happened. Your audience is myself, so assume I know the story well.
Please make sure — as always — to give your essay an appropriate title. Again, consult the textbook, read carefully everything it teaches you on deconstruction and apply this theory to your story. Your essay has to be 3-4 pages long and use MLA style.
