White Room

Jason

10/28/10

Zurkowski 9 Greens

White

Edgar Allen Poe wrote a story called the Masque of the Red Death. The time period in which that story took place was when the black plague was going around England. The story was about a prince inviting all of his friends to the castle so that they don’t get the red death. So they all came to his castle and then the prince sealed all of the doors and windows and built a wall around his castle so that the red death couldn’t get in. Inside the castle the prince had seven rooms in which his friends stayed and partied. The rooms were all different colors and each color symbolized a different stage in the life of a person. One of the colors was white. This color is first mentioned in the story in the beginning. This color is one of the most important ones.

            The color white symbolized a stage in a person’s life. White is the color of the fifth room. The stage at which the color white symbolized is when the person is around 51 to 60 or 70 years old. The color also symbolizes some important characteristics of people besides just the age of a person. One of the things that it symbolizes is wisdom. Another thing that it symbolizes is plain. Both of these characteristics are descriptions of the people between the ages of 51 and 70. In the story there is also a clock that chimed every hour and white plays an importance in that clock because when the clock rang for the fifth time, it was on the fifth color which was white.

            The color white can also be related to my life. The way it can be related to my life is that one of my grandfathers and one of my grandmothers is around 70 years old. They both are plain in a way. By meaning plain I mean old fashioned and not with the new style of doing things such as using a computer. Another way white can relate to my life is that my dad is turning 50 in January. My dad is a very wise guy however and nothing about him is plain. My dad still has a lot of energy for his age and I like him like that. This color is important in the Masque of the Red Death because when the red death comes into the castle, he goes through the white room.