New and Blue

Jessica C.

Mrs. Zurkowski

Honors English Purples

October 27, 2010

New and Blue

Blue is the first color in the abbey that Prince Prospero owned and it is the first stage of life. Blue represents water, which is full of life. Hundreds of different plants and animals live in water, and humans need water to survive. Naturally, most people associate life and blue together. In “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe, Poe briefly describes the room that is blue. He only says that “vividly blue were its windows”. He calls the color vivid, or lively. Edgar Allen Poe, wanted his readers to see that in his story “The Masque of the Red Death”, blue is representative of life.

            Blue also be known as the beginning of life. In the story, the blue room is placed in the far most Eastern side of the abbey. The rooms are arranged east to west. It is commonly known that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. This symbolizes life starting in the eastern room, the blue room, reaching its peak, in the orange room, and ending with the setting sun in the black room. Blue is representing the beginning of life, infancy. Infants are dependent. So in the beginning stage of life, humans are young and dependent. Babies are also lively. They are literally alive in the fact that they can carry out all of the functions of a living thing which includes a specialized way of getting food: crying. Babies are very lively because when they need something, they cry and use all their energy to get food, while grown humans will simply open up a refrigerator. Infants have moved on in their time of existence where they can survive without being inside the womb and they are happy and lively. They still can’t do much for themselves, so despite being dependent, they are vivid and jubilant.

            The color blue and its symbolic meaning of life are important to me because I have three new baby cousins. By seeing them grow I can see that this point in their life is important because what they see and hear now is going to greatly impact them later. This period of time when they depend on others, by the help of parents and other people, they learn everything. It is through this point in a human’s life that their central ideas and beliefs will reflect. I have seen my cousins learn good behaviors and bad behaviors through those that assist them. Part of life is learning the difference between things that we should and should not do. In the earliest stages of life, young children learn that. Through this they are truly living. In “The Masque of the Red Death” the blue room is the first room to be entered. This is where the guests are taught how to behave in their environment and react to people, including Death. As they travel these rooms, they learn more and more.