Theory Into Practice:Application of Roland Barthes’ Five Codes on Kamila Shamsie’s “Home Fire”

Abstract

The study is an attempt to explore Roland Barthes’s Five Codes from Structural theory on the novel “Home Fire” (2017), written by Kamila Shamsie so as analyze the meanings implied behind the codes. Structuralism is a new school of thought that developed from linguistics and language theories. The study will explore the “Home Fire” qualitatively by following theoretical framework of Roland Barthes’ Five codes. The research will discuss the brief critical premises of “Home Fire” and then Barthes’ five code will be applied on the structure of novel. Textual Analysis will be conducted for this research. It is substantiated through textual analysis that the selected text contains all the five codes which are the hermeneutic, proairetic, semantic, cultural and symbolic codes. According to Barthes, all narratives contain one or five codes that function as the narrative’s “waving voice.” “Home Fire” (2017) is an exploration of the clash between family, society and faith in the modern world. The novel begins with an enigmatic, suspenseful situation where numerous features stand for connotative meaning. This novel also includes cultural references of Eastern and Western society. The Symbolic code which includes binary opposition also play a vigorous role in the structure of the novel. It will be discussed that “Home Fire” is tangled largely with hermeneutic code to create mystery for the reader but cultural code is also most important priority of the author because real events and characterization have expanded the theme of cultural collision. The study presents that by following Barthes’ five codes on “Home Fire” will enhance an understanding of the reader to substantiate the multiple hidden meaning through these codes.