Derrida states that deconstruction is not an analysis
in the traditional sense. This is because the possibility of analysis
is predicated on the possibility of breaking up the text being analysed
into elemental component parts. Derrida argues that there are no
self-sufficient units of meaning in a text. This is because individual
words or sentences in a text can only be properly understood in terms of
how they fit into the larger structure of the text and language itself.
For more on Derrida's theory of meaning see the page on différance.
