F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”

In Jeanette Walls’ memoir, *The Glass Castle*, the complex dynamics of family life are vividly portrayed through the author’s tumultuous upbringing in a dysfunctional family. While the book is rich with various themes and motifs, one subtle yet profound element is the use of color to represent family. In particular, the color yellow emerges as a significant symbol throughout the memoir, encapsulating the warmth, illusion, and ultimately, the love inherent in Walls’ family experiences.

Yellow, often associated with warmth, visibility, and sometimes caution, appears at crucial moments in the narrative.

Early in the memoir, Walls recounts her severe burn from cooking hot dogs at the age of three, an incident occurring against the backdrop of a bright yellow sunlit day. This event underscores the recurring theme of parental negligence yet is bathed in a color typically linked to warmth and care. The dichotomy of yellow’s symbolism here—representing both the warmth of familial love and the warning of familial danger—sets the tone for the complex relationship between Walls and her parents throughout the book.

Furthermore, the color yellow is prominently featured during one of the family’s car trips. Walls describes looking out of the car window at the stars and dreaming about the food she would eat, as the stars’ twinkling yellow light contrasts starkly with her family’s frequent bouts of hunger. Here, yellow represents both the hope and the inadequacy of her family: the hope that things might get better, and the inadequacy of her parents to provide for basic needs consistently.

Additionally, yellow surfaces in the depiction of the titular glass castle—a grandiose plan by Walls’ father to build an ideal, futuristic home for the family, primarily out of glass. The plans for this castle, which include yellow colored sketches, symbolize the promises made by her father that are never fulfilled. The yellow here could be seen as representing both the deceit at the heart of these unfulfilled promises and the bright, optimistic vision of family life that these promises entail.

However, yellow also comes to signify resilience and a form of redemption. Despite the adversities she faces, Walls’ reflections are often tinged with a type of nostalgic warmth for her unconventional upbringing. Her ability to find value and meaning in her past, to turn hardships into the foundation of her strength and success as an author, is metaphorically cloaked in this color, which represents light and the possibility of a positive outcome.

In conclusion, in *The Glass Castle*, the color yellow serves multiple symbolic purposes related to the theme of family. It highlights the warmth and potential happiness within the Walls family, contrasts with the stark reality of the children’s needs, and encapsulates the deceptive promises of their father. Ultimately, yellow symbolizes both the danger and beauty of the Walls’ family life, portraying the dual nature of Jeanette’s experiences—fraught with challenges yet crucial in shaping her resilience and perspective. This nuanced use of color enriches the memoir, adding depth to our understanding of the family’s complexities and the ambiguous nature of Walls’ feelings toward her past.

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