Structuralism - Analysis #2

Part 1: Short Story

As soon as the new immigrants saw the historic landmark, they could not believe their eyes. The American flag was waving on top of the majestic White House, almost like a hand waving hello. It was even greater and more poignant than they had imagined it to be – the grass was green, the house larger than they imagined, and the whole moment engulfed all their emotions. Coming from Jordan, from a country left in shambles and poverty from war, the White House symbolized more to them than just a governmental institution. To this new family, the White House gave them a meaning of hope, of freedom, and of a life that they could begin living that didn’t resemble the life they fought so eagerly to leave behind.

Part 2: Semiotic Analysis

In conducting a semiotic analysis of the photograph of the White House, it is important to understand Ferdinand De Saussure’s notion of semiotics. The structuralist analyist argues that “ ‘language is a system of signs that express ideas’ and that these signs are in fact arbitrary” (Leitch 854). In looking at the photograph of the White House, we see visual signifiers or images that when combined with the signified, or the meaning of these images, form what Saussure describes as signs (Leitch 852). For example, the visual image of the American flag on top of the White House is the signifier, and what this signifies, or gives meaning to, is the notion of freedom. This meaning of freedom is derived mostly from what Saussure describes as convention, or our collective behavior or attitude towards a sign (Leitch 854). To many Americans, the American flag is a symbol, a sign of freedom and liberty. Additionally, when combined with the signifier or image of the White House, the American flag is further presented as a very American symbol of liberty.

However, as Saussure argues, the relationship between the sign and signifier is arbitrary (Leitch 854). That is, the photograph of the White House with the American flag waving on top of it might have a completely different meaning to an American than it would to a foreigner who has no idea of what the American flag or White House is. The idea of the American flag and the White House is not inherently linked to the meaning of freedom; it is arbitrarily connected, or unmotivated in that the signifier is not naturally connected to the signified (Leitch 834). In other words, the meaning in signs is created within the system that it encompasses. Within the American system, the White House connotes freedom; however, to another system such as the French system, the White House might not have any connotation or have a completely different meaning in and of itself. This is a very important stipulation that Saussure has emphasized; that meaning is arbitrary and not necessarily universal.

Leitch, Vincent B, ed. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. New York:
W.W. Norton and Company. 201