This is an essay about a short story called "Sarrasine" by the famous Honoré de Balzac, but it does not offer an interpretation about that story; rather, it offers a series of 5 types of structuralist codes that he essays about.
The first of the five is the hermeneutic code, which means something like, "Exploring the meaning of the plot." This code is Barthes's way of identifying the plot progression, the negative space of the plot called "suspense," which is curated by the author when the author withholds valuable information until timely moments. This creates a series of things not known that the reader will imagine in expectation.
Secondly, he explores what he calls the proairectic code, which refers to a scene's particular rhythms and the logical unfolding of moments, scenes, prose, and literary devices. Barthes says these rhythms are built into the author and the author is submitting to them.
Then Barthes explores two kinds of codes that he calls semic and symbolic. A semic code is a signifier or noun which refers the reader to imagine an object that will continue existing hypothetically in their mind as they read. The symbolic code is related to the attachment of meaning onto those fields of reference.
Finally, Barthes reaches the cultural code which is the paratextual involvement of the reader's own cultural assumptions, due to the progress of science and due to the progress of commonly held beliefs.
