c

(Deconstructive) approach to William Somerset

Maugham’s short story “The kite”

Introduction
General discussion:
In the society where we lived the parents wants
to hold their children in their hands. Mothers will resort to any
type of subterfuge (fraud) to manipulate their children into
obeying their every dictate. They often do “loyalty test” to ensure
that their children do that what they want. It is said that excess of
everything is bad. The story “kite” reflects true image of the
subterfuge kind of mothers that how they control their children’s.
framework
I will present the text with the deconstruction approach. The
deconstruction approach basically close and critical reading of a
written text to uncover the wages of thinking that constrain our
impressions or conceptualized of the world. The aim of this
research study is to apply the three-stage model of
Poststructuralist /deconstructive process, as proposed by Barry
(2002) 1: verbal 2:textual 3: linguistics. In the verbal stage the
words are studied in isolation, with the concept that they do not
contain pure or fixed meanings, but rather, they represent
contradictions and paradoxes in a text. It reveals binary
oppositions and slipperiness of the language being used. In the
textual stage overall meaning of the text is identified. It also
analyses shifting meanings, textual contradictions and the
continuity of the texts. The linguistic stage calls into question
the trustworthiness and reliability of language being used in a
literary text.
 Writer introduction
The William Somerset mugham was a British playwright, novelist
and short story writer of human bondage. Though Maugham's
stories are deeply psychological like those of Katherine Mansfield
and Virginia Woolf. The Kite” is a short story written in 1947 by
William Somerset Maugham. Mr. Maugham is well known
for his very popular short stories. “The Kite” is one of his
psychological short stories.
Summary
This story focuses upon a young man’s transition from son to
husband and back to son following his wife destruction of his kite,
the principal object of his passion and affection. And his mother
characterized as mother with borderline. Borderline mothers
expect their children to be on hand all times.

Main tenants:
Derrida: deconstruction is not a method, but an activity of
reading as it refers to certain new strategies for interpreting
literary texts.
j-Hillis miller: deconstruction is not a dismantling of the
structure of a text, but a demonstration that it has already
dismantled itself. Its apparently solid ground is no rock but thin
air.
Hannack & Taylor (2001) define deconstruction as “a
methodological strategy which seeks to uncover layers of hidden
meaning in a text which have been denied or suppressed”
Lashari & Awan, (2007) Deconstruction finds out the unfixed
meanings; finds untruths behind the truths; ambiguities behind
the expressions.
Barry, 2002; Deleuze, (2006) Deconstruction is, in fact,
based on the philosophy of Nietzsche’s famous remark “There are
no facts, only interpretations”

Research Questions
By using the approach of peter Barry, we will discuss following
questions;
(a) What are the omissions and language slips in the story?
(b) What are the contradictory (clashing) ideas?
(c) What are the changes in viewpoints?

Discourse analysis:
William Somerset mugham “The kite” is an impressive
and pathetic story with the theme of jealousy and possessiveness
of mother. The Kite” has an open first-person narrator in the
beginning and in the end. Ned Preston is the one who told our
narrator the story. The story revolves around the very stubborn
boy who would not retreat from his opinions. His relationship
with his parents, especially his mother, is a lot different, to what
one would call a normal relationship between mother and son.
His mother is enough conservative; she won’t let Herbert play
with other children; she won’t have him going out on Saturday
evenings even though he is by far old enough to do so. His mother
also very arrogant because of the way she sees and talks to
strangers. After the marriage his wife Betty objects and rebels
against is Herbert’s flying of the kite on Saturdays with his
parents. But Herbert’s fatal attraction for the kite is a string of
mother fixation. When All when the possible pleadings result
in vain, Betty hacks down the kite which ultimately aggravates the
situation.Herbert chooses the prison instead of providing the
alimony to his wife.
In the application of the first stage of verbal analysis, the words
are studied in isolation from other linguistic items and their
subconscious or hidden meanings are identified. This analysis
reveals various contradictions and fluidity of meanings in the text
under discussion. For example;
“Mr. and Mrs. Sunbury, their hearts swelling with pride”
The above utterance although seems to be an idiomatic
expression. How can a heart can be swell with pride? The writer
uses this statement as a sense meaning but If we take this
statement as a literal meaning then it doesn’t make any sense.
“He caught his breath”
In the above statement the “caught” word is ambiguous. caught is
word which is refer to grab something which have a physical
entity. The breath is something which is invisible we can’t see it.
How can someone catch his own breath with hands?

“If you're so sharp you'll cut yourself ”

basically the sharp means something having a thin edge intended
for cutting . If we examine the surface meaning of this sentence it
show that the Mrs. Sunbury try to advise her son but this
statement doesn’t make any sense that how can someone cut his
own self.
In the second textual stage overall meaning of “kite” is
identified by analyzing shifting meanings, textual contradictions,
the tension of ideas, breaks, and the discontinuity of the texts. The
title of the story is surprising as kite actually denotes a strong
symbol in some nations, in dreams and in literature traditions. In
all these uses, the positive symbolic meaning of kites represents
variations of personal pride, independence, highest hope,
accomplishment, freedom and expansion. The whole story is
move around the kite and what is the kite relationship with the
children? And how the presence of kite made a stronger
relationship between parents and children? But if we see the fact
then kite is different from relationship. How a simple piece of
paper makes a relationship stronger and what the blood relation
aren’t they strong.
As a show with these statements:
“if you're a good boy and wash your teeth regularly
without me telling you i shouldn't be surprised if Santa
brings you a kite on Christmas day”
Mrs. Sunbury conditioned him through interpellation, she
gradually made him the way she wanted him to be according to
her the kite made their relationship stronger than other things. To
fly the kite, it was the reflection of his passion and his relation
with it.
“Mum, can I have a kite?' he cried.
 He had already learnt that when he wanted anything it was better to ask
his mother first. He knows the kite is the thing which makes their
relationship closer.
The linguistic stage calls into question the trustworthiness and
reliability of language being used in a literary text. It represents in
language what it does not intend to present. It calls into question
“the adequacy of language itself as a medium of communication.
kite is full of lines that reveal the story as a hatred, jealousy, love,
conservativeness.
As it is showed by these statements:
'You didn't ought to have brought a woman like that into
my house. Common, she is, common as dirt.'
Herbert mother so much arrogant because the way she seems and
talk to the stranger and betty. She sees other people as a dirt and
poor. she also compares herself with the other. She even didn’t
consider other as a human.
Mrs. Sunbury took in all this at a glance, and she reckoned to a
penny how much her smart rayon dress had cost, her
extravagantly high-heeled shoes and the saucy hat on her head.
Her frock was very short and she showed a good deal of flesh-
colored stocking.
According to this statement this show that how Mrs. Sunbury sees betty.
This analysis of the statement demonstrates that the way Mrs. Sunbury
look at betty shows that she considers her nothing. she thinks that the only
person looks good is her own self.
Conclusion:
Deconstructive analysis of Somerset mugham “kite” shows that the
meaning of language is not fixed but rather it is fluid. It conveys multiple
meanings which can be quite opposite of one another. De Saussure’s idea
that word cannot give meaning in isolation is questioned as the data
analysis shows that words can give meanings in isolation and that can be
multiple meanings. From that it shows that language is pluralistic in
nature. Deconstruction rejects De Saussure’s theory of signification that
sign, signifier and signified contain single fixed meaning. It propagates that
one signifier can represent many signified concepts. So, the application of
three stage deconstructive model proposed by Barry (2002) on kite reveals
this pluralistic nature of language. These three stages of textual analysis are
verbal, textual and linguistic. The application of these three stages on “the
kite” reveals that language is not fixed nor it contains a single stable
message. Rather it pluralistic in nature. It contains several meanings that
make it ambiguous. Its fluid nature makes it flexible and its meanings can
go on and on till infinity.