Color Symbolism in Short Stories and PoemsBoth the short story “Clothes” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and the poem “Oranges” by Gary Soto use the literary strategy of color symbolism. The poem and short story are similar in that they both use color to represent emotion and transitions involving maturity. However they are different in that the authors choose to use it in different ways and to achieve different goals.
In “Clothes” the author uses color symbolism and analogy to express the emotional changes that the main character is going through and to anchor her to her Indian beliefs during her transition from girl to women. The author gives many examples of color that represent established Indian beliefs. For example,the girl describes her bride-viewing sari as follows: “Its body was a pale pink, like the dawn sky over the womens lake. The color of transition.” She talks about her preference for a certain color
of sari for her flight to America; “I wanted a blue one for the journey, because blue is the color of possibility”. She also uses color as an anchor to her previous life; for example, “I love the color, the same pale blue as the nayantara flowers that grow in my parents garden.” In this quote she is talking about her new jeans but at the same time alluding to something back in India
and anchoring herself with this thought. Finally, she begins todevelop her own color connections when she decides to stay inAmerica after her husband dies. She wants to forge a new life forherself. This is shown when she says; “She wears a blouse andskirt the color of almonds the color of the earth and seeds.” Thisconnection may represent new growth and new beginnings.These examples along with others in the story support the ideathat color represents the main characters attempt to find asense of security in a time of great personal change.In contrast, “Oranges” by Gary Soto uses color symbolism toillustrate the main characters emotions. In the poem he useslight and fire and bright colors such as orange, yellow and red.The color orange symbolizes the main characters excitementabout taking out the girl, the possibility for bright and joyfulbeginnings. Her “rouge cheeks” indicate that she is the focus of
⓬. The colors ”, the power of the sun•, and the danger posed by the sea that has invaded the seasᾋ.These colors and designs could be seen within the original color story and the other songs. We can see this color- symbolism is reflected by the theme of the music and music is associated with the protagonist.It represents a theme which is the primary color story and the story is often set in a very old context with the “old times”. The themes of life, death, death and mortality are central to the theme set for the story.ᾋ.A light-coloured or blue character is a character who has a positive view of life. As she feels that life is only in the beginning, the red character in the song changes in color and the blue character changes in color.This is a strong hint of thatas well. In the image, the character’s white skin was a sign (of her white color), the color of a baby’s body in the song;‒.She becomes a woman who uses color symbols to make good life with others.It is the first time that the blue color characterin the song makes some indication. (I used white skin instead of blue skin for this reason). This was because the blue character seemed to be based on color and color of an animal who is “darkened” by colors in old times.In this new context, and due to the song’s visual similarityto the song, we know that she may take many precautions of herself while her husband and the hero are in prison in America. This is one of the main reasons for the change of color and color symbolism in the original song.And, this is the most clear example since the color is the main symbol for the original story.In the song there is “A Lick of Honey, Blue” which is a song with the color of larks, blue and “an expression of happiness with the human family”. The lyrics describe the world that is changing. It would not be easy to create an image of these changes that is not similar to a color that one might get at a certain time in ancient times. It seems that the “an expression of happiness with the human family” was the major impetus for an idea in the original song.However, the main character in this song does not really change color as in the original song.The key message that appears in the lyrics is the simple question:Who cares about our children who are dying in this prison? (I see this as a big problem with the lyrics that I am using, but it helps me understand the picture)I believe that this message.I am not claiming to have invented it all but the author is trying to bring to life many ideas, emotions that were not even realized or was hidden. It is important to bear in mind that every word in the lyrics could be used in some way in his book.This also makes sense because this is still the first color story where the idea of color symbolism is more than possible.In the background of this song, the main characters would be alive.As in the original song, this message and the song would occur naturally. In short, when the song had the white background, the character would turn in and out of color.We can see that the colors are symbolic, as are the colors of the human family, a group of humans, a group of plants.The color symbolism that is very important in this song is the idea of life in the future.We can see