Post-Structuralism is a way of thinking that says meaning isn’t fixed or simple — it changes depending on how we look at it. It starts with the idea that language doesn’t just describe the world; it helps create how we understand it. Words get their meaning from other words, not from some perfect connection to things in real life. That’s called relational meaning, and it makes language a little slippery.
Post-Structuralists also say that readers help create a text’s meaning — it’s not just about what the writer meant. This is why different people can read the same story and understand it in totally different ways.
A big idea in Post-Structuralism is deconstruction, which means looking closely at texts to find hidden contradictions or assumptions. There’s also something called différance, which is a fancy way of saying meaning is always shifting and never fully finished.
Finally, Post-Structuralists believe that things like identity and truth are shaped by discourse — the way people talk about things in society — and by power, not by some natural, unchanging truth. So, Post-Structuralism teaches us to look carefully at how meaning is made, who controls it, and what gets left out.