Smiley Face - Derrida

This has got to be one of the more difficult readings to read this semester. It has a constant comparison of difference vs. differance, active vs. passive, Being vs. beings, presence vs. present and more when defining the philosophical term 'differance,' as opposed to difference. Derrida offers the reader a new understanding of how to distinguish differences and whether they really are all that different in a world of comparisons.
Most importantly there is an introduction to the work of Derrida to aid the reader with understanding his essay. Here, the author informs the reader of the relationship between speech and writing to mind and body: both are one and the same. The introduction presents differance as difference in space and deferral in time. The latter of the two refers to the reinterpretation of past experiences in the present, which is something found constantly in Romantic poetry. Poets, such as Wordsworth, engaged with readers with elaborate trips down memory lane to recognize changes over time. One of Wordsworth's most famous poems 'Tintern Abbey' depicts his return to a landscape 5 years later having lived in the city for most of his life. It shows his reaction to the new landscape around him and his reaction to his memories of the place. Wordsworth recognizes how growing up has changed his perception of his surroundings - the differance of experiences with the deferral of time.
In his essay, Derrida starts his argument by evaluating the verb 'to differ' as both identifying distinctions or inequalities, as well as recognizing the interval of spacing or temporalizing. From here, he goes on to identify differance as not a word nor a concept, but as a multivalence (as defined by Jenks in postmodern architecture as the construction of multiple levels in depth) and identifying a nonidentical sameness, shedding light on the play of difference by the mysterious nature of the 'a.' The word differance can easily be identified in writing but must be stated clearly orally by stating it's 'difference with an a.' Derrida evaluated differance as a middle voice rather than active nor passive. This term, coined by Derrida himself, evaluates the Ontico-Ontological difference between real things (the ontic) and Being (the ontological) to identifying the world around us.