Barthes likened a text to a ball of threads needing to be untangled, each thread standing as a different approach to how a text can be interpreted. A text can be open (with multiple approaches) or closed (with one clear approach). Barthes' 5 narrative codes are as follows:
Hermeneutic Code:
Any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery, this is achieved by avoiding the full truth or providing partial answers.
The Enigma / Proairetic Code:
Builds on tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates that something else is going to happen, this gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.
The Semantic Code:
Connotation within the story that provides additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning.
Symbolic Code:
Similar to semantic code but acts at a wider level, organising semantic ,meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning.
Cultural Code:
Refers to anything founded on some kind of canonical works that cannot be challenged and is assumed to be a foundation for truth.
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