Literary Theories

Deconstruction- This is a very interesting literary theory and method of thinking. By its very nature, it takes what is commonly believed to be true and through a series of steps tears apart the idea making it seem absurd. Even seemingly simple things such as walking from one place to another. (For example, to move to another spot by a straight line [the shortest distance between two points], one must first reach the halfway point. To reach this halfway point, one must first reach the halfway point of that. This continues on to infinity, preventing the idea that movement is possible.) So, deconstruction, when taken to its extreme, removes all possibility of anything.

New Criticism- This theory attempts to look at only the text. It removes the idea of an author's original intent and the response of the reader. It only considers the actual words on the page. This seems an incomplete way of looking at a text because it removes the author's original intent, which is very important to a text. Without an original intent, the text would never have been written, and it seems foolish to remove the authority of the very author of a text.
The reader's response is also important. The feelings and thoughts that are stirred up in a reader are the result of a text and are thus important to it. Without the response, a text is dead. Just ink on paper. Equivalent to a spot of ink leaked from a pen onto the paper.