The concept of color theory can be explained as the “rules” regarding how certain colors work together and how these colors communicate with the viewer. Throughout Autobiography of Red, different colors are brought up time and time again. The idea of color that is brought up so many times is representative of what the colors themselves mean and what it means for something to be red. Geryon describes himself throughout the book as “a red-winged monster”. In painting the color red often symbolizes anger and violence and is also representative of blood. Anger and violence are present less prominent in this story than one would expect, particularly because Geryon refers to himself as the red-winged monster. The word monster conjures up an image of something large, frightening, and inhuman. For being a red-winged monster, Geryon does not ever get too aggressive or out of sorts. This is where the idea concept of the volcano comes in. The volcano in this story is active but what I see is Geryon as the active volcano. All of the “red” (anger etc.) that he keeps inside himself is comparable to lava. The volcano has the potential to explode at any minute and release all of the red inside of it. Both Geryon and the volcano have the potential to explode but neither ever truly does at any point in the story. In this story the use of color is also representative of overall control, but the control and power that Geryon actually holds over his own life. Every person gets to decide where on the canvas to put the colors and which colors to use, everyone gets to decide how their life goes. You can either let the colors paint the picture for you or you can grab the brush and paint your own life. Life is a series of different colors and mixes with limitless combinations.
4 thoughts on “Color Theory as told by Geryon”
Comments are closed.
I really enjoyed reading this blog post and your analysis on the color red. I like how you talk about what red means to us when we see it. How there is anger and violence behind the color. Moreover, I like how you breakdown what we know about the color and what we have seen of Geryon. I love your connection between the volcano and Geryon as well. What do you think it would take for Geryon to explode? How do you think this influences how Geryon ‘paints’ his life?
This is great analysis but I wonder if you can draw out any other connotations of “red” and/or “volcano” and/or “monster”? In addition to anger and violence, red can also symbolize passion and love. Do you think Geryon encompasses both of these or more of one over the other? Personally, I interpret this as the red of violence/anger symbolizing the mythical Geryon while the passion/love/sensitivity of red is inhabited by Autobiography of Red’s Geryon. Can both of these meanings exist with one character? I think this type of analysis goes really well with Carson’s point about the nuance of words. They have so many meanings — which are we supposed to choose?
I love this analysis. I also was fascinated by the use of color in this novel, and I wonder if you could expand this argument to discuss the implications of that scene where Herakles sees Geryon as yellow. If Geryon sees himself as red, which is associated with anger and passion, but Herakles sees yellow, what associations would that conjure? Maybe it implies that Herakles doesn’t see that passion in Geryon, that he just sees him as an innocent, soft ball of sunshine, since yellow has much more passive connotations than red.
This reading of colors in Autobiography of Red is such a good connection to color theory with red being so often associated with anger and evil. Something else that red is often associated with though is happiness and energy when its used in design and decorating. Its interesting how one color can have so many seemingly conflicting meanings, and Geryon seems to have all of them. On the surface it might seem that he is scary or threatening because of his difference but he maintains a happy and energetic attitude and often passes it on to the people around him.