Why doesn't appache allow access to files outside the web root --from within index.html? : As the title states..

I have the following organization to my project but am unable to access the related css and javascript files from within my html code --unless I create symbolic links from the file to my web root.   Is this normal behavior for apache or does the problem lie elsewhere?

**If I remove the symbolic links and correct the path in my src attributes the content of those outside files becomes inaccessible**


    userName@hostName:/var/www/test$ tree
    .
    ├── css
    │   └── style.css
    ├── html
    │   ├── code.js -> ../js/code.js
    │   ├── index.html
    │   ├── jquery-3.2.1.js -> ../libs/jquery-3.2.1.js
    │   └── style.css -> ../css/style.css
    ├── js
    │   └── code.js
    └── libs
        └── jquery-3.2.1.js
    
    4 directories, 7 files

    userName@hostName:/var/www/test$ less html/index.html

    <!doctype HTML>
    <html>
       <head>
          <meta charset="utf-8">
          <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
          <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="./style.css">
          <title>Test</title>
       </head><!-- head -->
       <body>
         <h1>LOCAL TESTING SITE..</h1>
       </body><!-- body -->
        <script src="./code.js"></script>
    </html><!-- html -->
    
    html/index.html (END)

**^ Works**

    userName@hostName:/var/www/test$ tree
    .
    ├── css
    │   └── style.css
    ├── html
    │   ├── index.html
    ├── js
    │   └── code.js
    └── libs
        └── jquery-3.2.1.js
    
    4 directories, 7 files

    userName@hostName:/var/www/test$ less html/index.html

    <!doctype HTML>
    <html>
       <head>
          <meta charset="utf-8">
          <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
          <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../css/style.css">
          <title>Test</title>
       </head><!-- head -->
       <body>
         <h1>LOCAL TESTING SITE..</h1>
       </body><!-- body -->
        <script src="../js/code.js"></script>
    </html><!-- html -->
    
    html/index.html (END)


**^ Does NOT Work**

    userName@hostName:/var/www/test$ tree -p
    .
    ├── [drwxrwxr-x]  css
    │   └── [-rw-rw-r--]  style.css
    ├── [drwxrwxr-x]  html
    │   ├── [lrwxrwxrwx]  code.js -> ../js/code.js
    │   ├── [-rw-rw-r--]  index.html
    │   ├── [lrwxrwxrwx]  jquery-3.2.1.js -> ../libs/jquery-3.2.1.js
    │   └── [lrwxrwxrwx]  style.css -> ../css/style.css
    ├── [drwxrwxr-x]  js
    │   └── [-rw-rw-r--]  code.js
    └── [drwxrwxr-x]  libs
        └── [-rw-rw-r--]  jquery-3.2.1.js
    
    4 directories, 7 files

**^ Permissions on files**

    userName@hostName:/etc/apache2$ less sites-available/test.local.conf

    <VirtualHost *:80>
            ServerAdmin myEmail@email.com
            DocumentRoot /var/www/test/html
            ServerName test.local
            ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/test.local.error.log
            CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/test.local.access.log combined
    </VirtualHost>
    
    # vim: syntax=apache ts=4 sw=4 sts=4 sr noet
    
    sites-available/test.local.conf (END)

**^ Virtual Host Configuration**

    userName@hostName:/var/www/test$ uname -v

    #35~16.04.1-Ubuntu


    userName@hostName:/var/www/test$ apache2 -v
    
    Server version: Apache/2.4.18 (Ubuntu)

**^ System Info**
