Barthes's analysis is influenced by the structuralist linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure; both Barthes and Saussure aim to explore and demystify the link between a sign and its meaning. However, Barthes moves beyond structuralism, criticizing narratology's tendency to establish the overall system out of which all individual narratives are created, a practice that makes the text lose its specificity (différance) (I).
Barthes employs five specific "codes" that thematically, semiotically/semiologically, and otherwise make a literary text reflect structures that are interwoven, but not in a definite way that closes the meaning of the text (XII). Barthes insists on the (different degrees of) plurality of a text — a plurality that should not be reduced by any privileged interpretation. He also flags the way in which the reader is an active producer of interpretations of the text, rather than a passive consumer. (II).
