The Color Wheel- Lily Weston and Fatima Abashera

“The Road” by Cormac McCarthy is a haunting and dystopian novel that depicts a post-apocalyptic world in which a father and son navigate a desolate, gray landscape struggling to survive. The novel’s color palette is seemingly dull and barren because of the ash covered environment. However, there are a few significant instances in which vibrant colors make an appearance in memories, dreams and storytelling. To interpret these colors, we created a color wheel of scenes in color to illustrate the unique color palette of the story and how these scenes are significant to the overall meaning and conveyal of the story. The most significant color on the wheel is the muted gray that pervades the novel. This gray reflects the ash covered world symbolizing the aftermath of the catastrophic event leaving earth lifeless and dry. The absence of color underscores the bleakness of the characters’ surroundings and the harsh nature of their journey. In the wheel there is orange which represents the sun and description of the snow. “Everything was alright. As if the last sun were returning at last. The snow orange and quivering”(31). The red represents the blood on the snow from the man’s illness, “On the gray snow a fine mist of blood”(30). The pink signifies “A thin rose gown that clung to her breasts” (131) that was depicting the woman in one of the man’s memories. The green speaks bride coming out of a “green and leafy canopy”(18). The white represents “combs of ivory and combs of shells” (18). The black signifies “where lay a black and ancient lake” (1). Blue being used to describe “He pulled the blue plastic tarp off of him”(5). Finally, gray represents the “still grey serpentine of a river” (6). The color wheel interpretation highlights the occasional appearance of color throughout the novel. The novels palette becomes a nuanced representation of the character’s journeys, emotions and fragile beauty that coexist with the barren world.