“Red”

Since reading this novel I have noticed a significant amount of words being repeated, but one word that stood out to me is “red”.  It is used 49 times throughout the novel to describe many different objects or situations.  One of the ways that “red” is used is to convey warning signs, both before and after the comet hits.  On page 217 “red” is used in an emergency message, saying “RED ALERT. RED ALERT. YOUR CONDITION IS RED.”  This use of the word “red” not only signifies danger, but also emergency and chaos, another theme that goes along with “red” throughout the novel.  

There are many instances of red clothing on many of the characters, such as the “red-coated young men” that Tim Hamner describes in the opening scene of the novel.  Another example of “red” being used to describe physical attributes of characters is Maureen Jellison’s hair. Her red hair is one of the things that stands out about her most and is often mentioned throughout the book.  It seemed to me that in all of the above instances of the use of the word “red” it is used to describe something that is almost untouchable.  For example, several men lusted after Maureen from the beginning of the novel.  She was seen as someone who was everything that their wives or significant others were not, making her a character that seems untouchable by both men and women.

Finally, the word red is used to describe many instances of fire and destruction, again, both before and after the comet hit.  I think that this adds a cinematic effect to the destruction that is brought about by the comet.  Often in disaster movies we see skylines filled with red, or explosions filled with the color red. Using the word red to describe disastrous scenes allows us to visualize the scene in our heads based on what we tend to see in typical disaster movies, helping to bring the novel to life.