Reading Rainbows Writing Along The Color Spectrum
Have you heard these terms? • Seeing red • Green with envy • Feeling blue • Yellow belly • Blacklisted • Tickled pink • What do these terms mean to you? • Why do we use colors in literature to symbolize other meanings?
Red Orange White Blue Temper Anger Blood (Life) Vitality Danger Passion Power Violence Enthusiasm Creativity Paranoia Innocence Purity Truth Kindness Wholeness Distance Calm Clarity Loss Sadness Courage Purple Black Green Yellow Mystery Magic Royalty Fulfillment Good judgment Justice Evil Death Mystery Threat Concealment Jealousy Greed Betrayal Cunning Nature Growth Fear Wisdom Insanity Friendship Cowardice
Why do authors select specific colors to give characters or locations psychological weight? Think of the following titles: • • The Orange Cat by Edgar Allan Poe The Color Turquoise by Alice Walker The Yellow Badge Of Courage by Stephen Crane Snow Purple And The Seven Dwarfs by the Brothers Grimm Would the stories found within these fictional novels be any different from the actual correctly titled books? How so?
Let’s add some color to the proceedings and shed some light on the issue.
Red • • Red is the warmest of all colors, but if it goes unchecked, the color can display anger or disgust. Red is associated with fiery heat. It can also mean danger and signify intense burning, either real or imagined. Red is the color of blood, and as such has strong symbolism for the vitality of life and the human instinct to survive. Dark red is also the color of passion and lust. Literary Example: The Red Badge Of Courage by Stephen Crane (1895) Widely considered to be one of the best pieces of American anti-war fiction, the story follows a young soldier who runs away from a battle his regiment is fighting. The soldier gets hit in the head accidentally and his wound becomes legendary within the ranks as it is believed to have been battle-inflicted. With such an impressive “leader” fighting alongside them, the soldier inspires others to fight bravely on the battlefield until even the soldier himself finds the courage within. Other examples: Little Red Riding Hood (a very sexualized tale of a young girl lost in the forest), The Scarlet Letter (the color signifies sin and adultery)
Green • • Green is the color of nature and fertility. The color contains the powerful energies of growth, desire to expand or increase. Out of this desire come the all-too-human traits of jealousy and greed (the almighty dollar is this color). Green symbolizes the need to be cunning, the ability to deceive others and the willingness to betray even the closest of friends. Literary Example: Sir Gawain & The Green Knight, an epic poem of an Arthurian legend The narrative of this old English poem tells of one of the knights of the Round Table who challenges a knight dressed and painted entirely green. The legend follows the knight one year later who must appear before the Green Knight once more to complete the challenge. Along the way, he is seduced by a lady of the court, deceived by a kindly King, and persuaded to deny his honor. The poem is a morality tale about the traps the Green Knight sets up. Other examples: Othello (Iago’s treachery is forewarned with the immortal line, “O Beware, My Lord of jealousy…it is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on”)
White • • Strictly speaking, white is not a color, but the manifestation of the presence of all color - the complete energy of light. It stands for wholeness and completion. It represents purity and truth. White also has a cold quality and can symbolize innocence within a character or location. Literary Example: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by the Brothers Grimm (ca. early 19 th Century) A fairy tale with European roots, it has been told in many countries and was part of the Brothers Grimm collection. The version familiar in the United States is most like the German rendition, which includes an envious evil queen/stepmother, a poisoned apple, a talking mirror, abandonment in the woods, and seven helpful dwarfs. All the while, Snow White exemplifies all that is pure and innocent in the fairy-tale world she lives in. Other examples: Tom Sawyer (the whitewashing of the fence symbolizes the remnants of innocence prior to puberty), Moby Dick (the color of the whale demonstrates a powerful energy that is hunted by others)
Black • • Black is the most misunderstood color. Black symbolizes death in some literary works and evil antagonists usually dress in this color to personify their wicked motives. Black is actually the absence of all color, absorbing all aspects of light. While white reveals, black conceals. It has come to mean hidden, fearful or bad experience and is linked to the unknown or the unseen. Black can be mysterious, but also represents danger. Literary Example: The Black Arrow: A Tale Of Two Roses by Robert Louis Stevenson (1888) A historical adventure novel set at the time of the War of the Roses, following The adventures of Richard Shelton who longs to avenge the murder of his father. At first, fiercely loyal to his own house, he suspects betrayal from within and aligns Himself with a group of bandits whose calling card is a black arrow driven into a Specific target, leaving a note for the intended soon-to-be-victim. Other examples: The Black Cat (a mysterious feline figure could be a figment of The author’s imagination), The Black Tulip (a tale of brutal murder and romantic Love make the case against political tyranny and seek justice)
Yellow Orange While it appears bright and cheerful at first glance, the color yellow signifies darker undercurrents. It is used to show fear and cowardice in characters, and also symbolizes insanity or an unhinged mind. Orange means vitality with endurance. Orange offers a more thoughtful control than explosive red. Curiosity is a driving characteristic of orange, and with it comes exploration of new things. Orange symbolizes paranoia and sudden fits of violence. Literary Example: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1891) Literary Example: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962) A short story written in the first person as a series of journal entries. The narrator is a woman whose husband, a doctor, has confined her to the upstairs bedroom of a house he has rented for the summer. She is forbidden from working and has to hide her journal entries from him so that she can recuperate from a "temporary nervous breakdown” She begins to go mad, becoming obsessed with the pattern of the room’s wallpaper, picturing herself crawling with other confined women beneath it, never allowing herself to leave the room. A novel set in a not-so-distant future that is told in the first person by the lead character, who is the leader of a band of thugs who revel in violent acts and creating mayhem in the streets of an authoritarian society. The main character, Alex, soon finds that his gang’s exploits are no match for the terrifying torture provided by the government, when he is captured and sentenced to “rehabilitation. ”
Blue is the calming color, but it also gives a feeling of distance. It can indicate sadness and depict horrible loss. But through the tears, it gives way to clarity, allowing an increase in outward perspectives. Purple is the color of people seeking spiritual fulfillment. It is said if you surround yourself with purple you will have peace of mind. Purple has also been used to symbolize magic and mystery, as well as royalty. Literary Example: The Island Of The Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell (1960) Literary Example: The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1983) A children’s novel about a young girl who is marooned on an island for 18 years. She experiences the death of her brother and must take over the duties of survival as she waits for a passing ship to take her home. Told from the point of view of letters, the novel tells of the hardships and perseverance of Celie, a black woman in 1930 s rural Georgia. The title derives from a discussion about faith and the rekindling of Celie’s spirituality.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925) Not all literary works rely on the same symbolism between colors. The novel we are about to read consciously assigns new, contradictory symbols to colors we have learned about. How does Fitzgerald play with conventions of color metaphors in “Gatsby? ” Examples: • • Yellow (or gold) is symbolic of wealth and money. (This can be seen in the color of Gatsby's car. ) Green is symbolic of hope. (The Dutch who first settled New York saw the green of the land; Gatsby's hope for Daisy's love is seen in the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. ) White is a symbol of lack of morality and lack of virtue. (In the beginning, both Daisy and Jordan are dressed in white. ) Blue is a symbol of death. (The lawn around the pool where Gatsby was killed is blue. )
Works Cited • http: //crystal-cure. com/color. html • Howard, Adam, http: //www. byzantinecommunications. com/adamhoward/homework/highsch ool/gatsby. html • Howard, Melissa, Little Red Riding Hood, Suite 101. com Aug. 8, 2007, http: //fairytales. suite 101. com/article. cfm/little_red_riding_hood • Joe, Jim, Timeless Myths, http: //www. timelessmyths. com/arthurian/gawain. html • Long, Bill, Othello, The Moor Of Venice, 2004 http: //www. drbilllong. com/Shake. O/Othello. html
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