Personal Symbolism: The Color Blue

Most people do not see color as simply the way something looks, however. They tend to associate certain colors with specific feelings, emotions and memories. (Dmitrieva) For instance, blue is most commonly associated with “feeling blue” meaning one feels upset or depressed, however, blue is

Symbolism is one of the major elements in "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker. The woman's search for something she has never experienced is the symbolization of the mankind's search for love and happiness. The meaning of names, occupations, power, pants, cloth, words, eyes, frogs, starts, shell, stamps are only few examples of the symbols used by the author and are very important in understanding not only the characters of the story, but also global values such as love, power, mutual understanding, and authority over another person's life.

Colors are apart of our everyday lives. They help us on dreaming, creating and increasing youthfulness. The author used colors to illustrate an importance behind objects, emotions, and characters. The various colors symbolize location, character traits and appearances.

Symbolism is used in many ways and writers use symbolism to “enhance their writing.” It can give their work “more richness and color and can make the meaning of the work deeper.” In literary work the actions of the characters, words, action, place, or event has a deeper meaning in the context of the whole story. The reader needs to look see the little things like a dove symbolizes peace, or like the red rose stands for romance. Mostly everything can have a symbolism meaning to it. For instance the flag symbolizes freedom and the stars represent the states. Even some signs are symbols like when a beaker has a skull with a bones placed like an ‘x’ behind it symbolizes that it’s toxic or bad. When people see the red light when driving that’s

Colours signify shift in moods, feelings and beliefs. White denotes purity, humility and marriage. Blue conveys trust, tranquillity and harmony. Red represents all things intense and passionate. It is no surprise then as to why Hughes titled one of his works after this symbolism.

F. Scott Fitzgerald uses colors to symbolize emotion throughout the novel. An example would be when Nick was observing Gatsby’s house the day of the party, “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne, and the stars.” (39 Fitzgerald) The gardens represent Gatsby himself. Like his gardens Gatsby puts in a lot of effort into himself to look good, he makes it known that he has a ridiculously lavish lifestyle.Therefore how he feels is how the house is going to appear, in this case the gardens appear blue because he hasn’t met his long lost lover, Daisy, yet and that causes him to be really sad and depressed. The blue also represents how lonely he feels because he doesn’t have many friends and his efforts to try and reach/ meet Daisy again haven’t given him results. Color was also used to show emotion when Gatsby and NIck returned to West Egg after going to town with Daisy, Jordan, and Tom, “the shadow of the tree fell abruptly across the dew and ghostly birds began to sing among the blue leaves.” (152 Fitzgerald) In this quote, the blue represents how hurt and confused Gatsby feels. He had always thought that Daisy never loved anyone

Zimmerman asserts that blue represents the beginning of life and the spiritually associated with it; purple, the royalty of Prospero…; green, youth and vitality…; orange, a transition to adulthood with negative connotations of lust and

It represents war and love yet, it’s also the color of blood. Another important symbol which isn’t mentioned as much in the novel is the color blue. It represents a lost time and a fantasy of a different world. T.J. Eckleburg's eyes – which are painted upon the billboard across Wilson’s auto shop-, are blue, perhaps symbolizing a higher world from which God looks down upon the scene. The many color symbols that are present throughout the novel can be confusing and often missed if the reader does not look for them.

It represents the depression and sadness pertaining to Gatsby’s deeply romantic, yet quite unrealistic love for Daisy. Blue is noticeable surrounding Gatsby’s mansion. For example, Gatsby’s garden is blue, the bay water separating him from Daisy is blue, and he has brittle blue leaves in his yard. We even come to find out that Gatsby’s chauffeur wears a blue uniform. When Gatsby is murdered, Nick visits his grave and says, “He had come a long way to this blue lawn,” (Fitzgerald 180). The blue lawn is in reference to the graveyard; the most unhappiest of places. Aside from Gatsby, blue represents depression for other characters as well. After Myrtle’s death, George Wilson and Mr. Michaelis were in a “blue”

The blue heart stands for the sadness of those who are trafficked, that cold-heartedness of those who buy and sell fellow human beings. The use of the blue UN color also demonstrates the commitment of the United Nations to fighting against this horrible epidemic.

Blue is not only a color, but it implies trust, reliability and professionalism - which is why it appears so frequently in corporate color schemes, the Police and

Madison McDonald Dr. Jeann Owens English 2110 November 25, 2016 Color Symbolism Colors hold a great significance for many people around the world, varying throughout cultures, religions, and ethnic groups. Colors are also used to evoke different emotions in our soul such as; red for power and aggression, bright colors like yellow and orange representing warmth and happiness while blue and black portray sadness and depression. Along these same lines do authors compose their symbolistic work. Throughout history authors have used color to express a deeper level of intellectual thinking to their audience, we refer to this as color symbolism. Charlotte Perkins Gilman chose an ordinary color in one of the most well known examples of color symbolism, yellow.

(First People The Legends.) While this legend does not answer which is the most “important” color, within Ceremony the meaning behind the color blue applies best to the novel. The color blue is mentioned countless times within Ceremony. The most important ones are the mentions when referring to Night Swan. While with Night Swan Tayo sees “A blue dress” (78), “blue thread” (79) “a bright blue door” (81) “a blue lined page for her” (89) “a blue kimono, blue slippers” (90). These references to the color blue show how Tayo starts to feel the peacefulness that Night Swan displays.

One example of strong symbolism is in “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” by Katherine Porter when the author uses the color blue as a way to connect the present with different phases in the life of Granny Weatherall, the main character who comes to accept the inevitability of her own death. The color is first used to describe the, “white stone-china jars with blue whirligigs and words painted on them: coffee, tea, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, allspice,” (Porter) in the neatly kept home of her youth. The author seems to use the color to bring to life a part of Granny’s life when she was young, energetic, and kept a well-organized house. The next time the

The blue color resembles freshness and liveliness, and most people desire to have this eye color. There isn’t any surprise that blue eyes are the most desired eye color in the world. Some of the blue eye color facts are as mentioned below: