This, the last of the signs I will discuss, is all three types of signs: a symbol, an index, and an icon. The text portion of the sign is its symbolic element; the figure that appears sitting pensive on a rock is the iconic element; and the area surrounding the sign to which its meaning is applied and towards whom its meaning is directed is the indexical element.
With regard to what behavior is meant to be controlled with this sign, there seems be a dual message. The text portion is direct “NO LOITERING ON THIS PROPERTY.” Let us assume it is on public property. What then does the statue depicted on the sign mean? The figure is obviously not the typical member of society that this type of sign is meant to control, i.e., those members discussed in the first three signs. It seems to be directed to those members of society that are reflective, and free thinkers in nature, as that would be the typical meaning associated with this particular statue. Perhaps they don’t want us to be thinking, at least not too much, about the meaning and control involved in these signs. For, as it was the case with the second and third sign, it seems highly against the principles of freedom upon which this nation (the USA) was founded to suggest that we should alienate and cage, as it were, our youth, marginalize and exclude our vagabonds (especially the Spanish speaking vagabonds), and to discourage reflective, free thought. What would we make of this sign if we found it on our Syracuse University Campus, or even, on the streets of Syracuse, a college town?
