US-China Foreign Language, June 2018, Vol. 16, No. 6, 343-346 doi:10.17265/1539-8080/2018.06.007
On the Symbolism of Color in Dubliners
人和车厂ZHANG Tian-yi, JIA Xiao-yun
University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
This article rearches the function of color symbols on expressing the theme by analyzing the original text. By
doing such rearches, the relationship of symbol with deepening the theme can be clearly revealed.
Keywords: Dubliners, Jam Joyce, color symbolism
Introduction
In creating Dubliners, Jam Joyce choos the capital of Ireland as its background and vividly describes various kinds of lifestyle and mentation in order to uncover the numbness of people and paralysis of the whole
society. This short story made up of 15 stories displays the fierce conflict between people and the whole society
and the bitter feeling after failure (Qiang, 2004).
Color Symbols
As one of the important rhetoric method, color symbol has strong metaphorical meaning. It is often ud to describe abstract things and people’s character, living features and mood, which makes the expression vividly
(Li, 2007). Different colors brings various kinds of feelings for human beings, this is to say, different colors
reprent different moods, so we can judge moods, beliefs, nature of people through colors. In this novel, the
author us a lot of colors to vividly express the numbness of people in current society as a result of the brutal
war. It’s very hard for people to gain confidence after war. So most people remain stagnate to escape the pain
brought by the sufferings. This article analys how the color symbolism makes the theme of Dubliners more
clearly known by the readers.
White—Last Purity of Human Nature
White reprents elegance and pureness and is the symbol of the God, the angle, happiness and the virtue.
In the Bible, the angle has white wings and silvery white halo over the head. When white express the feeling
of human beings, it has the meaning of bright, cold, and happiness. It shows the purity and honesty in the
human nature (Zhou, 2006). In this novel, the author us white to express the last purity in people’s heart that
is not destroyed by that paralysis society. The short passage An Encounter describes the story of two school
boys running away from home and coming back at last. By the river, when they saw the big white
sailing-vesl, one of the boys—Mahony said “it would be right skit to run away to a a on one of tho big
ships” (Joyce, 2011, p. 13). Besides, the narrator also says when he looks at the high masts and feels that school
and home em to recede from them. Here, the big white ship is the carrier of their feelings in their heart that is
ZHANG Tian-yi, Master of Arts, College of Foreign Languages, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai,
China.
JIA Xiao-yun, associate professor, College of Foreign Languages, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology,
哥伦布竖鸡蛋Shanghai, China.
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ON THE SYMBOLISM OF COLOR IN DUBLINERS
344 eking for the freedom, becau something across from the a is novel and strange, which makes them feel exciting. Therefore, “white” here reprents their deep desires to escape from the current situation. In the short passage of The Boarding Hou , the description of the leading character is that “her hopes and visions of were so intricate that she no longer saw the white pillows on which her gaze was fixed or remembered that her was waiting for anything” (Joyce, 2001, p. 56). And later, when her mother tells her that Mr. Doran wants to speak to her, she knows what she has been waiting for. Through the details, it can be found out that the white pillows are the symbolism of thousands of thoughts and minds of the leading character. At the beginning, she cannot find out what she wants most, and when Mr. Doran appears, she finds what her desires best. In the short pa
ssage of The Dead , Gretta and her husband Gabriel do not have a very good relationship with each other. But, in the past, they lived very happy. Gabriel often think of the happy time ever had becau it can make him forget the unhappy and impassionate life provisionally. And it is the only console for the unhappy marriage. When the cab drove across O’Connell Bridge, he is in a happy mood when Gabriel remembers he was again in a cab with his wife, hallooing to their honeymoon. “As the cab drove across O’Connell Bridge, Miss O’Callaghan said: ‘they say you never across O’Connell Bridge without eing a white hor’. ‘I e a white man this time’, said Gabriel”. “Gabriel pointed to the statue, on which lay patches of snow. Then he nodded familiarly to it and waved his hand” (p. 192). It is easily can be found that at this moment, he is very satisfied and happy. The dialogue between Miss O’Callaghan and Gabriel mentioned two things “white hor” and “white man”. Although readers cannot tell what the hor and sculpture reprent, the two things have the same features—they are both white things. The white makes the bridge a special and famous place and the white sculpture regarded as a man. The narrator wants to express purity human nature by using white color to describe pure things. Image that when you e a big white hor without stains and a large sculpture covered by
white snow, you must feel peaceful and wonderful. It’s just like Gabriel’s feeling of remembering the past
happy time. He loves his wife very much while the current situation is not so satisfactory. So the color white reprents love in his heart under the strong appearance. So, through the three examples, the story of the first part is about chasing freedom of children and the cond and third part are about the love of adults; it can be said in this novel, the author wants to u “white” to show that the last purity still exists in people’s heart though this society has gradually fallen into paralysis.
Grey—The Current State of Paralysis后妃传
Gray is a color, mixed with white and black. It’s the cold color of concrete, of industrial waste, of devouring living beings and reprents gloom, weakness, dirtiness, depression, and intrigue (Cheng, 2016). In the novel, the author wants to express two phenomena: the numbness of people and the paralysis of the whole society by using the symbolism of “grey”. In the first part, the narrator mentioned the “grey face” three times, which aims to put emphasis on the poor condition of people in this country. “In the dark of my room I imagined that I saw again the heavy grey face of the paralytic. But the grey face still followed me. His face was very truculent, grey and massive” (Joyce, 2011, p. 6). The reason why the author choos the priest as the first main character in the novel is that his position is very holy. He has the least probability to commit crime or becomes “paralyzed”. However, he does. And at others’ places, the author mentioned “grey hair” at veral times. In The Dead , whe
n describing Aunt Julia, the author mentions “Her hair, drawn low over the tops of her ears, was grey; and grey also, with darker shadows, was her large flaccid face, and author thinks that she does not know where she is or where she is going” (Joyce, 2011, p. 160). Through this description on Aunt Julia, we can easily find
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ON THE SYMBOLISM OF COLOR IN DUBLINERS 345
that her life is stagnant. When Gabriel tells a joke, Aunt Kate and Aunt Julia laugh happily. But, the smile soon
leaves from the face of the Aunt becau she does not know very well about the meaning of the word
“galoshes”. From the details, we can know that the life of Aunt Julia is so clod that she cannot receive new
information. To some extent, Aunt Julia is very old and has no chance and strength to cha new life instead of
葡萄酒的酿制方法
current life. So it is obvious that she is numb in her life.
The atmosphere of society is so depresd that people who live in it try to escape. But, not every escape succeeds. Tho people who failed become numb and lo hope for life. So everything described with the color
“grey” is aimed to focus on the theme of paralysis for people in the society or the society itlf.
Blue—Another World of Human Fantasy
The color “blue” is light, cold, and cool in texture from the perspective of color science, which expands one’s field of vision to blue a and blue sky. When “blue” is combined with dark, it has the meaning of fear
and destruction. While combined with light, it symbolizes hope and freedom. It is often ud in literary works
to show another world of human fantasy (Li, 2006). In the passage of After The Race, the blue cars belong to
the French and “each blue car, therefore, received a double measure of welcome as it topped the crest of the hill”
(Joyce, 2011, p. 31). In the passage of “Two Gallants”, a young woman is in blue dress and a white sailor hat.
As soon as she appears, the two main characters become excited.
“Blue” is also ud to describe a young woman: “Her blue rge skirt was held at the waist by a belt of black leather” (Joyce, 2011, p. 44). In the passage of A Mother, “few young men, wearing bright blue badges in
品牌窗帘their coats, stood idle in the vestibule” (Joyce, 2011, p. 121). In the last passage of this novel The Dead, “her
blue felt hat would show off the bronze of her hair against the darkness” (Joyce, 2011, p. 206). Although the
blue things are all very little, such as cars, dress of woman, badges…, we can figure out that the things have
same features—popular and attractive. As we all know, different from fortitude and firm of male, female is soft
and beautiful, so throughout the novel, the author us “blue” to describe women. Bad on such information,
we can speculate that “blue” is ud to express a society full of active things and beautiful people that is very
缘分梦
different from the current society.
Conclusion
Bad on the analysis about different colors, we can find that the color symbols play a significant role in expressing the theme. Color “White” is ud to express the last purity of chasing good things in their heart that
is not destroyed by that society. For children, freedom is precious becau they have not it. However,
influenced by the society, the adult have many things, such as money, social position, good reputation, and so
on except true intention of human nature. Just like the color “white”, which is never to be added with other
致自己的说说colors, the true happiness deep inside can never be destroyed by cruel trauma, maybe it is not easily to find.
The atmosphere of the whole society is grey and depresd, becau people around have grey eyes, grey faces,
and so on. They are not satisfied with their life, their friends, their lovers, but they still have no courage to
change their life or to leave. However, many blue things such as the cars, the clothes of the woman, which
shows people may still pursue beauty in their heart. The color symbols provide an easy way for readers to
understand the situation of the society and people living in this society. Moreover, the expressionism of color
symbols offers a vivid picture of the society at that time.
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ON THE SYMBOLISM OF COLOR IN DUBLINERS
346 References
Cheng, J. F. (2016). Color symbol in the movie The Great Gatsby . Movie Literature , 138-140.
河南经济Joyces, J. (2011). Dubliners . Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Rearch Press.
Li, J. Y. (2006). Color performance and implication of the movie “Blue”. Movie Commentary, 29, 34.
Li, J. L. (2007). A comparative study of the symbolic meanings of color words in English and Chine languages. Journal of
Jishou University, Social Science Edition, 28(4), 173-175.
Qiang, Y. X. (2004). Paralysis that is hard to escape—Comment on the theme of Joyce’s Dubliners. Journal of Tangshan Normal
University, 26(3), 27-29.
Zhou, X. M. (2006). The meaning and symbolic meaning of some color words in English . Teaching and Management , 91-92.
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