Blog 3: The Color Red

So I’d like to begin by saying that I finally figured out how to change the background of my blog. I have been confused for a while now and major props to all of you who found out how in the first two seconds after making yours.

Colors have been used in many other literary works as symbols. I have always found this strategy to be fascinating because description of color is such a staple of writing in the first place and it is interesting to see when authors use it to their advantage. One of my favorite examples is the green light from The Great Gatsby. If you are unfamiliar with the book, a very summarized version is that a man named Gatsby lives across a small stretch of water from his old sweetheart Daisy who is now married. At the end of Daisy’s dock there is a green light that is constantly blinking and visible from Gatsby’s house. To Gatsby the light represents hope that one day they will be reunited. He reaches toward it in the introduction of the story (as well as in the movie) because it serves almost as a guide to Daisy. One the whole, the light also represents the American dream because that is what Daisy is to Gatsby. This is but one example of many that authors have used to make their point. I bring colors up because I saw a similar use in “The Slaughter House.”

One of the comments that Stark made during his lecture was that Rosa's supporters wore red as a way of displaying their support. This caught my attention because of the subtle dominance of red within Echeverría's short story. My question is whether or not he used the color symbolically as a literary technique or if it is a coincidence?

I personally believe that the constant descriptions of blood at the slaughterhouse has another purpose beyond showing how uncivilized the Federalists are. Red often symbolizes anger, death, blood, aggression, violence, and impurities. The slaughter house seems to be one of the places in which the Restorer (Rosa) has the most power. It seems to fit in perfectly that his power lies in a place where the most red would be found for the people have made the color and the Restorer into one entity. Therefore, when Echeverría describes the blood in the streets, the “long streams of blood spurting from every artery” of the child’s severed trunk, and that of the death of the bull, he is putting all the blame on the Restorer. It serves to make his point that where the Restorer reigns, only death and violence with prevail.