ISP: The Color white as a symbol

UnJi Nam
Mrs. Elliott
AP English Literature
6 Jan 2009

ISP: The Symbolism of the color white

Although Western literature has spawned many symbols that are now part of the public consciousness, the color white as a symbol is by far one of the more long-lasting and established symbols. It finds its way in much literature over the centuries, from the Bible that formed the basis of the rise of western literacy to Heart of Darkness, Moby Dick, all the way to modern day’s The Poisonwood Bible. The color white also holds much symbolism in everyday Western life—wedding dresses and religious wafers are white for purity. White pages present endless possibilities, light made up of all seven colors holds completeness, and the moon presents hope and wonder. And yet despite the symbol’s basic meaning being well entrenched, the color white has changed meanings in the past as seen in literature. As Western society struggled with new moral questions, new endeavors into the world, the symbol of white also shifted meanings and depths in the literature of the day that questioned events and ideas. The color white, so favored by western culture as a symbol of purity and goodness which the West claimed a monopoly on in centuries past, is interesting to see as it, along with the society that made it so prominent, changed in response to events in history, and shifts in ideas.
The Bible, as it was read and distributed across Europe, was most responsible in establishing the color white as a major symbol in literature. In the Bible, the color is used to represent purity and innocence, as seen in the Old Testament laws that dictate the use of white animals as a sacrifice to God for sins committed. If white is also applied to the symbol of light which it is often tied to in the Bible, it can also be seen as a sign of divinity, a sign of good.
By the time of the 19th century, the color white’s meaning was well known enough as one of morality and Christianity. The short story Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad takes advantage of this to twist the symbol on its head, representative of the general message of the text of western civilization’s powerlessness and hypocrisy in the face of sumptuous riches and primal instincts. White in the story is used in describing a city that is compared to a sepulcher, a white marble tomb that holds rot and bones inside. White is also a description for the race that runs wild in Africa, looting and killing with no thoughts of Christian morals or ideals of civilization and brotherhood. White was used first in describing the light of Western civilization, made concrete by the sailing ships on the Thames River of England. “Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within the land, bearers of a spark from the sacred fire…What greatness had not floated out on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth!” These very ships, carrying the West to the unknown lands, are the ones who unload cannonballs, epidemics, exploitation and greed onto those far-off shores. This is the Western light brought onto the world, not the hazy and warm ideals of brotherhood, improvement, and morals that those who stay in the West enjoy, but a harsh illumination of man’s basic corruption and evil, unleashed in fertile, primordial soil. The story, using white as a symbol of hypocrisy, made its point on an optimistic, self-congratulatory society that plumed itself to be the guiding light of intellect and civilized behavior. Humans anywhere live with basic primal instincts of survival that do not always accord well with Romantic Western ideals of transcending flesh to become almost divine. It was a sharp reprimand of late 19th century Western society, and an early questioning of the ideas behind western colonialism. Colonization of nations was justified by some saying that the spread of Christianity and civilization uplifted the regions. Conrad here deftly deflates that rationale of Western superiority.
Moby Dick has arguably the most famous use of the color white as symbolism in his creation of the white whale, which in itself is a complex symbol. By using the hunt of the white whale as a symbol for man’s need for purpose, as well as an exercise in the question of divinity in relation to humans, Melville elevated whaling and the common man into a noble enterprise of life, one that confronted its members regularly with the mysteries of life. Thus, one can see the rise of the common laborer in the consciousness of western society, a rise that was slowly being mirrored in reality with the rise of unions and improvement of working conditions. In both situations, the working man was uplifted to humanity, no longer just a drudge, but a human being with a right to necessities and to grant purpose onto his existence. The symbol white echoes the idea, as the object of the whalers desires proves to not be economic gain, but a desire to uncover the existence of divinity, to know the deepest mechanics of nature and the universe—in short, to find purpose in life against the inclinations of society.
In The Poisonwood Bible, white again shifts from its traditional meaning. In this case, white is like the sap of a poisonwood tree, irritating and toxic to all that it touches. This symbolism is extended to the West’s ideas of government, religion, politics and civilization that are imported into the Congo of the novel, which are personified in the missionary Nathan Price. Though these ideas, this western “interpretation” of living may have been beneficial back in America, like poisonwood, these interpretations prove to be useless and even harmful to the Congo. Like the symbol of white, inverted from its western roots to become something harmful instead. White is also seen in paleness of skin, bones, and in light in the novel. None of these things are seen as particularly good in the novel, especially pale skin. Rachel, extremely light in complexion and materialistically western in thought is called “The Termite” for her paleness, but one can also see how the name can apply to her contributions to Africa—a parasite who feeds off its bounty. This inversion of the symbol is meant to emphasize the West’s effects on the lands it claimed it was trying to uplift into civilization by colonialism. Whatever ideals and love the West had to impress upon others was lost in translation.
Ultimately, as Western society continues to face new challenges and questions, it will also continue to dissect and answer issues in its literature as well, proving the intellectual answer to the mass events that affect all. And as it do, its literary symbols can also be expected to grow and change in response.