In short, what Barthes implies is that if the author is not killed off, readers are tempted to link the text with the author, his life and background. With the putting aside of the author, emerges a web of multiple interpretations which all form part of one superstructure. For instance, without taking into consideration Doris Lessing, we can give her story a multitude of interpretations. Indeed, the extract can be understood as a depiction of men viewing woman as mere objects for display and possession. Or still, is it not just an exhibitionist woman showing off her beauty to others, her nudity to men, while at the same time ignoring them and thus making herself a highly desired lustful object? Still more interesting, the extract might be given a psychological aspect where three men have three different reactions towards the same female entity and or nudity. All these different interpretations may be different from each other but what imports is that they are all linked to one superstructure, namely sex. In short, the main preoccupation of the story is sexuality.
Structuralism notes that much of our imaginative world is structured of, and structured by, binary oppositions. The idea of binary oppositions, brought by the Structuralist thinker, Levi Strauss, is a fundamental way in which meaning is constructed. In A woman On a Roof, we meet with a whole series of binary oppositions, namely, sunlight versus shade, man versus woman, masculinity versus femininity, old age versus youth, single versus married and work versus rest. Indeed, it is through these sets of oppositions that meaning is constructed in this particular short extract, where we mainly see the characteristics of men of the constructing class who are tough, constantly exposed to heat, hard headed, domineering, each having their particular conception about woman in this very much sexual society.
According to the scholars of Structuralist thought, a text is meant to be studied in the particular period of time in which it is written.
Due to the overwhelming caseloads processed through the court system, the needs of the offender for additional treatment (i.e., drug addiction, mental illness, alcohol abuse) find themselves incarcerated in an already overcrowded jail or prison with little or no treatment programs to address their i...