White symbolizes the pure, sanitized, and controlled environment in which Maddy lives at the beginning of the novel, as well as her lack of individuality. Everything in her home is white, from the walls and the furniture to Maddy’s T-shirts and shoes. While Maddy doesn’t take issue with the color palette at first, it does read as a symbolic encapsulation of Mom’s attempts to control Maddy’s environment down to the smallest thing and essentially whitewash it of all the colorful emotions and experience that Maddy could potentially experience in the outside world. In doing so, she deprives Maddy of any sense of individuality, or indeed any sense that she exists separately from the house or from her mom.
The Color White 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.
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.
I wish I could undo the last few months of knowing him. I would stay in my room. I would hear the truck beeping next door and I would remain on my white couch in my white room reading my brand-new books. I would remember my past and then I would remember not to repeat it.
The Color White Symbol Timeline in Everything, Everything
