Barthes

Suggested that narrative works with five different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it.
Action – a narrative device by which a resolution is produced through action, e.g. a shoot-out.
Enigma – a narrative device that teases the audience by presenting a puzzle or riddle to be solved. Works to delay the story’s ending pleasurably.
Symbolic – (connotation)
Semantic – (denotation)
Cultural – a narrative device which the audience can recognise as being part of a culture e.g. a “made man” in a gangster film is part of the mafia culture.