The Significance of Colors in 1984

[TotalNutso]

Can anyone tell me whether or not they see as significance in colors in 1984?? My professor said to pay attention to the color yellow because it is not used often and take into account the color of the overalls, blue, and julia's sash, red. I get that they are all primary colors, but does anyone have any idea to meaning or purpose?? Thanks :D

[Isagel]

I don´t know what meaning Orwell had in his use of color. It was along time since I read the book. Put perhaps this can be seen as some clues.
First of all color can both be seen as having a cultural meaning that we in the wstern society share. Like red for love. But also for blood and intensity of emotion. But color can also have a private significance to the writer or the story.

Yellow is often used as a symbol for creativity and light. Creativity is not something endorsed in the world of 1984. I don´t remember when yellow is used in the book, so it might have a more privat menining for Orwell. Blue is often used as both symbol for calm and rest, but also commonly used in uniforms since it gives a feeling of authority, without strong emotions. If I remember correctly the effect of the use of color is that the world in the book seems cold and grey. It amplifys the effect of the words they use where they try to remove all feelings ( all the "double plus" ). Compare to the use of color in Kafka. When trying to remember the Trial I always remember it in beige, gray and black. /Isagel

[Jay]

Why does everything have to mean anything? Sure, some things do, but not all of them.

[Isagel]

Ask Freud. :-) Just kidding.

Books are seldom cryptic messages where evrything means something else and which we need to decipher. But still - written words, like spoken, are communication. When we communicate we do it on different levels. First of all we have the story being told. Then we have the feelings it gives the reader. Of course we react to the story itself , but also towards the language and the pictures used to tell it.
Some writers do this deliberately and work with symbols to create an effect. Sometimes it´s not built deliberatly. But still words and images can make us cry or laugh. Sometimes they can hit us like a fist in the stomach.

So why look for meanings? Well, it might add to the experience of reading to analyze how a scene is set or a mood created.

And also sometimes there really are hidden meanings, like the song of the chestnut tree discussed in this forum.

[Blue Demon]

Ok, Blue.

The overalls of the party are blue - this is an example of doublethink that Goldstein explains in chapter 9 (part 2)"It [the party] preaches a contempt for the working class unexampled for centuries past, and dresses its members in a uniform which was at a time peculiar to manual workers and was adopted for the reason."

In chapter 5 (part 1) Syme says his favourite detail of the hanging is "the tongue sticking right out, and blue - a quite bright blue." This ties in with alot of what O'Brien says in chapter 2 (part 3) about making thoughtcriminals come round to the Party's way of thinking before execution to avoid them becoming martyrs.

In chapter 1 (part 1) Winston says "...though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything." A blue sky would normally suggest calmness and rest however to me it suggests the absoluteness of the Partys contol

[TotalNutso]

Ahhh that makes sense... Thanks so much! I was also thinking red, the color of julia's sash compliments the blue of the overalls so it stands out.. so that would be a form of propaganda as well, because it's kinda advertising the junior anti-sex league (celibacy)... feel free to correct me if i seem wrong.... thanks again

[AbdoRinbo]

Isagel, Gold is often used to symbolize creativity; yellow (its degraded form), on the other hand, almost always has a negative connotation (deceit, pride, &c.). It is the color that Judas Iscariot is always painted wearing.

[Isagel]

Thanks! I just remembered that yellow is often used as a word for traitors, and couldn´t make fit. Now it makes sense.

[AbdoRinbo]

:D ;)