Gathering Blue Literary Elements

Fiction

The time and location of the action are unknown. It is mentioned that the action takes place in a post-apocalyptic future but no other clear indications are given.

The narrator of the story is Kira and she narrates the story from a first person subjective point of view.

Hopeful, positive

The protagonist is Kira and the antagonist is Vandara.

The major conflict us an internal one, between Kira’s desire to follower her dreams and become a skilled and creative weaver and her realization that she needs to be considered useful to be let to continue live in the village.

The story reaches its climax when Kira’s father returns into the village.

The Council’s favorable decision is foreshadowed by Kira who feels as if the piece of cloth inside her pocket got warmer, thus hinting that the Council will make a decision in her favor.

When Kira admits that she thinks that Vandara is dangerous proves to be an understatement because not only is Vandara dangerous but she is also known for her cruelty and for her antics and she is knows because of her behavior inside the Edifice as well.

The major metaphor in the novel is the color blue or rather the lack of it in the society where Kira lives. Blue is used to suggest something that it is missing from Kira’s village but it is alluded that the color blue and the secret behind the production of the color is found in other places and in other villages. It is proven that the color blue stands for compassion and love so what the writer suggests by explaining that blue is no longer found in the world is that love and compassion are no longer as easily found today as they were in the past.

In the tenth chapter, Kira gets scared when she sees Matt outside preparing to leave and go hunting. Kira knows that her friend will be exposed to dangers and may even die so she convinces Thomas to help her get Matt into the Edifice and keep him there until the party leaves. In this chapter, Kira and Thomas are portrayed as behaving almost in a couple-like manner, taking care of the young boy, bathing him and offering him their food. It is thus suggested that compassion and love were not as scarce as one would think but the ones who were able to express such emotions were the children not yet brainwashed by the society they lived in.

The reader is left with the impression that Jamison cares about Kira as a father would care about his child. Paradoxically, it is proven that Jamison cares about Kira only because he wants her to finish the robe.

The author draws a parallel between the society Kira lives in and a modern society obsessed with controlling the actions and artistic abilities of the people. While Kira is talented, she has to do what she is told and she must create what she is told, thus reproducing ideas promoted by the Elders and creating propaganda pieces for them. In a similar manner, many modern day societies tried to use artistic driven people such as writers, painters and carvers to create pieces of art that would promote and enforce nationalist ideas and certain ideologies.

When the character mention the term spirit, they usually use it in a metonymical sense and it refers to the memory someone has about a deceased person and the feeling of love one may still have about someone who died.

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