Section XI Chapter 6 239-268 Summary and Analysis

The first essay of this section is titled "Language, Power, Force". Eco begins the chapter by discussing a lecture given by Roland Barthes in France on the subject of semiology. Eco uses this lecture to talk about the relationship between language and power. Eco quotes several of Barthes' lines, especially referring to the omnipresent nature of power transactions, the presence of blame in these transactions, and finally that power is encoded in the language that we use.

Eco continues his argument and suggests that language is fascist in the sense that "it compels speech". He goes on to describe how language encodes power because it forces one to use "already formulated stereotypes". Eco declares that the way to liberate oneself from this constriction is to "cheat" through the use of literature. He suggests that it...