While white symbolizes purity and cleanliness, other colors symbolize Maddy’s growing curiosity about the world and her budding individual identity. This begins when, after her first meeting with Olly, she decides that she needs more than just white shirts and so purchases a T-shirt in every color. At this point, Maddy wants to be able to experiment with both her body and how she presents herself to the world, something she can achieve by choosing to wear bright colors. This relationship between color and Maddy’s burgeoning identity becomes most apparent in Hawaii when Maddy wears a hot pink bikini for the first time. While the bikini by design impresses upon Maddy that her body is that of an adult woman, not the repressed teen she was at home, the pink color makes her look flushed, healthy, and beautiful—all things she longs to be as she begins to engage with the wider world around her. Finally, following the revelation that she doesn’t actually have SCID, Maddy paints her white bedroom bright yellow, thereby symbolically separating herself from the identity that Mom thrust upon her through both her fake diagnosis and the color of the house and furnishings. In this way, bright colors represent Maddy’s individuality as she comes to terms with her own self-expression, sexuality, and identity outside of Mom’s control.
Colors (Pink, Yellow, Orange) Quotes in Everything, Everything
Actually, mine’s not blank at all, but I really can’t tell him how beautiful his eyes are. They’re Atlantic Ocean blue, just like he’d said. It’s strange because of course I’d known that. But the difference between knowing it and seeing them in person is the difference between dreaming of flying and flight.
Olly watched the color fade in the glass and remembered the day his dad got fired and how he’d been too afraid to comfort him. What if he had—would things be different now? What if?
He remembered how his dad had said that one thing doesn’t always lead to another.
Before, I was worried about keeping secrets from her. Now, I’m worried about not being able to have any secrets at all. I know she’s not upset that I bought new clothes. She’s upset that I didn’t ask her opinion and bought them in colors that she didn’t expect. She’s upset with the change she didn’t see coming. I resent and understand it at the same time.
“Of course I regret it. A lot of bad things happened on that trip. And when my mother and father died, I couldn’t go back for the funerals. Rosa doesn’t know anything about where she’s from.” She sighs. “You’re not living if you’re not regretting.”
What am I going to regret? My mind cycles through visions: my mom alone in my white room wondering where everyone she’s ever loved went. My mom alone in a green field staring down at my grave and my dad’s grave and my brother’s grave. My mom dying all alone in that house.
Colors (Pink, Yellow, Orange) Symbol Timeline in Everything, Everything
