The Color Functioning in Lo'ai Hamza Abbas's Short Story Ali the Red

Abstract

Abstract: Language functions as a vehicle for and a mediator of meanings. For ages, colors have carried multiple symbolic meanings that are often cast in the basic polarities of warm-cold and bright-dark. Colors have long been used to create feelings of coziness and spaciousness. However, how people are affected by different color stimuli varies from person to person. This study focuses on the colors functioning as symbols in the short story of Lo'ai Hamza Abbas, entitled "Ali the Red", and demonstrates the rich use of these colors has a great part in the story. It presents the story's main colors and how the author handles them in showing the characters' different life conditions and situations.