Table of Contents
Introduction
The identification, categorization, and analysis of color dates back to many years ago to the time of Theophrastus and Aristotle. However, Gladstone (1985) identifies that the different color finite sets that define any category are determined for us by nature. However, the names, numbers, and relationship between the different categories changed and keeps changing but red and white remains old identifiable colors. The nineteenth century stands out as a time when comparative studies on the different color vocabularies from diverse present languages and antiquity leading to the development schematization and diachronic. The concerns arising from the wide ranges of color through provoking the thought on Basic color terms among other forms a basis for categorization. Additionally, this provides an opportunity for the syntagmatic and paradigmatic analysis of the different meaning, whether denotational or convocational depending on the modified entities or what they refer to. The red and white colors are unique and a total contrast of the other to a layman and the capability to identify the difference is easy since they stand out with unique visual properties. This raises the concern whether the unique visual attributes differentiating the two different colors consist of different meaning as well as what they mean.
We can do it today.
Analysis
The white color has been used over the years to draw different meaning and this has led the color being associated with peace, pure, the high and mighty. This true since the use of the color in old works such as the Great Gatsby use the color to draw different meanings that the audience is expected to draw. “Our white girlhood, “as used in the Great Gatsby portrays that Daisy was young and probably pure. Additionally, she mentions “our beautiful white” in the works and this explains a time when they knew no harm and pain from life and this depicts white as a color of positivity and well-being. Childhood is synonymous with great experiences and memories that shape what we become and what we reminiscence later in life and this is what the color is synonymous with representing. The mentioning of color white as identified takes place in Act I of the play and expresses the message that Daisy’s childhood was ridden with sweet memories of a good life and purity.
Color is a natural occurrence that surrounds and influences the cognitive capabilities of a man at all times. The way the brain processes what the eyes see influences judgment and the state of being and a good example is when one sees a red fluid flowing compared to a white fluid. The attention of a person that sees the white fluid will not be heightened as compared to when they see a red fluid. This explains why color is the perceived interpretation held by the brain towards the surrounding as compared to an objective state. The perception grows over the years as we grow and this influences how people perceive and interpret events, occurrences, moods, and the surrounding. However, some psychologists argue that the perception is a state of acquisition that is acquired from childhood but this does not explain why the association to the different colors before increased interconnectedness of the society drew similar perceptions. Therefore, the daily exposure to color influences the details we see from the different colors and more so the red and white colors that depict varying perceptions. The red color of blood appears to be the reason behind the color acquiring the perceived attribute of danger whereas white is without blemish hence represent a clear conscience or intention. Thus, the red and white colors are a natural occurrence that surrounds and influence the cognitive capabilities of a man at all times and the perceived interpretation held by the brain towards the surrounding as compared to an objective state.
The church over the years used and still uses the white gowns to represent purity during the matrimonial reunion and this further emphasizes the perception held towards the color. The bride wears white and the bridegroom equally dresses up in any white attire to represent their purity before the reunion. In the Great Gatsby play, Jordan insinuates that “We’re all white here,” to imply the race and this among others emphasizes the reason why the Europeans were referred to as whites from back then. This is because white was considered superior and stood above the other colors. Additionally, “throw everything onboard and have intermarriage between black and white,” portrays the perception held towards the other colors when compared to whites. The whites were considered to be economically emancipated, to have a higher Intelligence Quotient and beauty compared to blacks. Therefore, white is an old color that was used to represents the well-being purity and superiority of a race to another.
The white color denotes peace in the modern day and flying a white flag or displaying any white material draws the perception of peace. The gesture has grown to become an international symbol that many uses in social places to denote peace. Additionally, white surfaces are used in places that are considered royal and to contain divinity leading to the emphasis on the perception. This explains why the color has been and will always be highly regarded by the society as a superior color that represents purity and divinity as well. However, the red color depicts bloodshed that white counters with peace across the different spheres of life. Other than danger or warning message sent by red, passion, energy, and excitement is also depicted through several life aspects. The color red stands out within any gathering, patch or an object and this draws the symbolism of the ills that happen in the society and cause danger. Bloodshed stands out and is noticeable from any distance and cannot be ignored and similarly does danger, passion, energy, and excitement that the color depicts. The different utilization of the color within the society is the same to many human beings and draws the same meaning despite the difference in race and physical location. The basic ideas towards beliefs, occurrences, family and color representations exist to all and draw a lot of similarities and this explains why it is not a surprise to see human being draw a similar conclusion from the different colors but similar for a specific color.
The Great Gatsby is an ancient English play and its use of white depicts that there exists no definite reaffirmation that different color categorizations just like other existing environmentally and culturally influenced behavior are not random and hierarchically structured. However, some people may have reservations towards the claims and evidence provided towards different colors. This depicts that cultural and language conventions regarding colors vary with the antiquity and diverse contemporary language of those involved. Therefore, the syntagmatic and paradigmatic analysis of the different meaning, whether denotational or convocational of the white color depending on the modified entities or what they refer to shows that it represents purity, a superior race, and a good life.
Color symbolism in the quest for universal standards has led to a heated debate on that revisits the conclusions arrived at by historians and anthropologists. The conclusion arrived at by the historians and anthropologists is that the human perception is influenced by three main colors namely, red, black and white. This depicts that the white and red colors share the same attribute of being stand out colors that many societies considered as primary. Additionally, the symbolism surrounding the colors despite other colors not holding any significant relevance to the human perception. This explains why the symbolism and perception towards them are similar across different language families. Red draws its symbolism and perception from blood across the different language families whereas white represented light or optimism. Blood is life and its absence mean death and this explains why the red color is often used to depict the critical attributes and aspects of life such as, passion, energy, and excitement that are important to life.
Blood is not always a symbol of lost life but also of bringing to life through birth. This explains why the red color has been an important color for many language families across different parts of the world. On the contrary pouring blood depicted the loss of life that was considered heinous and highly punishable and this explains why the conventional standards depict danger using the red color since it is universally recognized that red symbolizes danger and consequently loss of life. Slavic languages, for instance, describes living and beautiful things using the red color, in China, it was used to honor the departed and to banish death, in the Jewish tradition Adam is considered to mean red and living. Therefore, red is a color that could not be ignored across the different language families and this explains the attribute held towards the red color and the symbolism that the color held traditionally.
The patterns and scenarios where the red and white colors are used affect the mood communicates invisibly, influences culture significance, depicts the influence from the surrounding, the political affiliation, religious festivities and rituals, and perception depending on age. Different eras and occasions may have been represented using a certain set of colors and this influences how the white or red color is perceived. Additionally, different countries have flags with the different color shades and the presence of the white color often represent the peace gained after a struggle and the presence of the red color to depict the bloodshed to attain sovereignty. However, the message that the colors communicate varies and the red emerges as a color that is often used to represent varying messages other than giving life, loss of life, the danger that is commonly known to represent the qualities of confidence, glowing and being alive. White to communicate cleanliness, harmony, peace, and silence in certain instances. This influences the heated debate on color symbolism in the quest for universal standards leading to revisiting the conclusions arrived at by historians and anthropologists. Therefore, color is the perceived interpretation held by the brain towards the surrounding as compared to an objective state and this applies to both the red and white colors.
“Even a very ordinary word and widely used word can have a complex relationship with its ‘referents’ and with other words which it exists in a structural semantic network.” (R Carter 1998 Vocabulary: Applied Linguistic Perspective. 2nd edition). The white and red colors can be used as a lexical word in the form of adjectives. The contrasting capabilities that the two words offer makes them lexemes when used as adjectives leading to the confirmation that color is a natural occurrence that surrounds and influences the cognitive capabilities of a man at all times. The different qualities that the two colors represent are varied but to be able to interpret, the context within which it is applied, or the form in which it is utilized becomes important. Therefore, the use of the red and white colors as lexical words in the adjective format helps in communicating a certain message that requires being understood.
White communicate cleanliness, harmony, peace, and silence in certain instances and can realize different word forms such as whitish and reddish to create and relay the intended message within a given context since they represent a wide variety of attributes. This because the patterns and scenarios where the red and white colors are used affects the mood, communicates invisibly, influences culture significance, depicts the influence from the surrounding, the political affiliation, religious festivities and rituals, and perception depending on age. Moreover, the words in the form of reddish and whitish may be used to represent a polysemy by using the single words to give a different meaning to interpretation. Therefore, the words can be used in different forms to represent different meaning other than the actual effect but also the symbolism surrounding them. This explains why the symbolism and perception towards the white and red color are similar across different language families but can be used to communicate different meanings as well.
Referential meaning forms the basis of understanding the two colors, red and white, since the symbolism that they are attributed to is similar to different language families. However, the two words can be used to represent different meaning other than the visual attributes that man can see. Red stands for bloodshed such as through war and white represents peace and this emerges as some of the referential meanings that can be drawn from the two colors. Additionally, peace, pure, the high and mighty that white portrays also stand out as referential meaning that communicates different meanings through the visual attributes. Thereby explaining the way, the brain processes what the eyes see to influence judgment and the state of being and a good example is when one sees a red fluid flowing compared to a white fluid. The referential meaning influences the perception to grow over the years as we grow and this influences how people perceive and interpret events, occurrences, moods, and the surrounding. Therefore, the concerns arising from the wide range of colors through provoking the thought on basic color terms among others forms a basis for categorization. The symbolism and perception towards the red and white across the different language families may appear similar but their utilization within English grammar influences different lines of thought depending on the form, context and the surrounding words.
An analysis of some instance where the white color is used in great works such as the Great Gatsby depicts that referential meaning is an important attribute in English. The white and red color can be used to achieve this because the brain processes what the eyes see and influences judgment or interpretation. This raises the concern whether the unique visual attributes differentiating the two different colors consist of different meaning as well as what they mean. Therefore, “Even a very ordinary word and widely used word can have a complex relationship with its ‘referents’ and with other words which it exists in a structural semantic network.” (R Carter 1998 Vocabulary: Applied Linguistic Perspective. 2nd edition). The referential meaning that is an important aspect in English has for a long time been used to influence the perception to grow over the years as we grow and this influences how people perceive and interpret events, occurrences, moods, and the surrounding.
Conclusion
The identification, categorization, and analysis of color dates backs to many years ago to the time of Theophrastus and Aristotle. This influences the heated debate on color symbolism in the quest for universal standards leading to revisiting the conclusions arrived at by historians and anthropologists. The nineteenth century stands out as a time when comparative studies on the different color vocabularies from diverse present languages and antiquity leading to the development schematization and diachronic. Color is the perceived interpretation held by the brain towards the surrounding as compared to an objective state and this applies to both the red and white colors. Referential meaning of the white and red colors forms the basis of understanding the two colors, red and white, since the symbolism that they are attributed to is similar to different language families. The contrasting capabilities that the two words offer makes them lexemes when used as adjectives leading to the confirmation that color is a natural occurrence that surrounds and influences the cognitive capabilities of a man at all times. Also, the concerns arising from the wide ranges of color through provoking the thought on Basic color terms among other forms a basis for categorization. Analysis of the white color that is used in great works such as the Great Gatsby depicts that referential meaning is an important attribute in English. This shows that the patterns and scenarios where the red and white colors are used affect the mood, communicate invisibly, influences culture significance depicts the influence from the surrounding, the political affiliation, religious festivities and rituals, and perception depending on age. However, the perceived interpretation held by the brain towards the surrounding is influenced by the objective state. This confirms the concerns that the unique visual attributes differentiating the two different colors consist of different meaning as well as what they symbolize. This makes the two words integral elements towards creating varying interpretations of meaning that is enhanced by the visual attribute. Therefore, “Even a very ordinary word and widely used word can have a complex relationship with its ‘referents’ and with other words which it exists in a structural semantic network.” (R Carter 1998 Vocabulary: Applied Linguistic Perspective. 2nd edition). The syntagmatic and paradigmatic analysis of the different meaning of the two colors, red and white, whether denotational or convocational depending on the modified entities or what they refer to depicts that the lexical and referential meanings expound on other uses of the word for enhanced understanding.
- Joucla, P., Fitzgerald, F., Fitzgerald, F., & Fitzgerald, F. (2012). The great Gatsby. London: Oberon Books.
- Laderman, G., León, L., & Porterfield, A. (2003). Religion and American cultures. Santa Barbara, Calif. [u.a.]: ABC-Clio.
- Makkai, A. (1980). Theoretical and practical aspects of an associative lexicon for twentieth century English. In L. Zgusta (Ed.), Theory and Method in Lexicography (pp. 125-46). Columbia, SC: Hornbeam Press.
- Meara, P. (2009). Connected words: Word associations and second language vocabulary acquisition (Vol. 24). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.
- Carter, R. (1996). Language as Discourse: Perspectives for Language Teaching. The Modern Language Review, 91(2), 677. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3734093
- Mattherson, L. Compiles, 1992. The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary psychology generation – of culture. New York: Oxford
- Parikh, K. (2011). Colour Symbolism – Emotional Values of Colour. Indian Journal Of Applied Research, 3(1), 65-66. http://dx.doi.org/10.15373/2249555x/jan2013/26
- Petru, S. (2006). Red, black or white? The dawn of colour symbolism. Documenta Praehistorica, 33(0), 203. http://dx.doi.org/10.4312/dp.33.18
- Zerkina, N., Lomakina, Y., & Kozhushkova, N. (2017). English Phraseology: Cognitive, Symbolic and Terminological Aspects (Based on Idioms with Colour Adjectives Black/White/Red). Arab World English Journal, 8(4), 137-147. http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol8no4.9