Color Symbolism in Literature: Examples and Meanings

Symbolism is a literary device involving the usage of symbolic elements—which can be words, people, animals, marks, locations, or abstract ideas—to represent something more profound than their literal meaning. Fairy tales frequently utilize literary symbolism to convey a story’s central idea to young audiences. For instance, the Brothers Grimm often used the forest to symbolize both mystery and peril.

From works of literature to famous paintings to film, artists employ symbolism to implicitly communicate ideas, foreshadow events, contribute to a mood, or grab the reader’s attention.

Color symbolism in literature involves using colors to represent a deeper meaning. Writers may use different colors to draw the reader’s attention to a symbolic object, communicate something about a character, or emphasize a theme. Some writers may even use a color palette to convey a mood or underscore themes of their work; for instance, pastel colors may imply dreaminess, while darker shades may symbolize mystery or foreboding. Human society and many different cultures imbue specific colors with a set of finite meanings, making color symbolism especially effective as a recognizable device.

More often than not, a writer’s use of color in a work of literature is intentional. Whether you want to know what your favorite color means or are looking to imbue your work with greater significance, here is a breakdown of what certain color choices may commonly signify in literature. (Keep in mind that different cultures may have different meanings for some colors.)

• Black: Especially in Gothic literature from the West, a black color choice often represents death, evil, grief, and depression.
• Blue: The color blue has positive and negative connotations in color psychology. Some writers may use blue to represent serenity and tranquility, instilling a scene with a calming effect. Blue can also signify sadness, melancholy, or isolation.
• Brown: This warm, earthy brown color may symbolize dependability, comfort, and a sense of being grounded. Brown is also a neutral color, and writers may use it to represent dullness and predictability.
• Green: The color green often symbolizes rebirth, growth, peace, jealousy, and greed. Green colors may also represent spring and renewal.
• Orange: The color orange often represents energy, excitement, joy, and creativity. Since orange is the color of fire, it may also symbolize heat.
• Pink: The color pink symbolizes love, kindness, femininity, innocence, and playfulness.
• Purple: Often associated with royalty, the color purple symbolizes bravery, spirituality, and luxury.
• Red: The color red symbolizes some of the most powerful human emotions, like passionate love or lust. On the other side of the spectrum, this warm color is also the color of blood, often symbolizing anger, danger, and violence.
• White: This primary color traditionally symbolizes innocence, peace, and cleanliness. In Western cultures, the color white also represents purity and virginity, while it symbolizes mourning in some East Asian cultures.
• Yellow: Writers may use the color yellow to symbolize creativity, happiness, optimism, and warmth—think of a yellow ray of sunlight poking out from a dark cloud. A common negative connotation of the color yellow is cowardice, popularized by the phrase “yellow-bellied.”

Here are four notable examples of famous books that give color symbolic meanings.

1. 1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Color symbolism is prominent throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic Jazz Age novel. The most notable symbol is the green light on Daisy’s East Egg dock that Gatsby eyes from his West Egg property. Fitzgerald specifically uses green, the color of jealousy and greed, to symbolize Gatsby’s obsession with wealth and his longing for a woman married to another man.
2. 2. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, protagonist Hester Prynne’s punishment for committing infidelity is to wear the letter “A,” marking her as an adulterer. The color of the letter’s fabric is scarlet—a bright shade of red—symbolizing the lust and sin that got Hester into her predicament, but also the rage and frustration she experiences in the face of public shaming.
3. 3. Snow White by the Brothers Grimm: In the Brothers Grimm version of the Snow White fairy tale, the evil Queen creates a special poisoned apple to trick Snow White: half the apple is white (the harmless half), while the other half is red (the poisoned half). After seeing the Queen eat the harmless white half, Snow White assumes the entire apple is safe to eat and takes a deadly bite of the poisoned red portion. In this instance, the color red represents evil and the Queen’s desire to spill blood. The white side of the apple, analogous to Snow White herself, represents all that’s pure and good.

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