Boring Orange

In the short story The Mask of the Red Death, by Edgar Allen Poe, different colored rooms were used to symbolize different stages of life. The color orange was selected by Poe to represent the stage of life from about 21 years of age to about age 50. Of all of the rooms, this one made the least amount of sense.

An analysis of the seven rooms proves that all of the other colors have some meaning, but orange. We only know what ages it represents because of the gap between green and white. If one ponders the meaning of the color orange and middle aged adults then they will deduce that there are few connections. People of this age have a lust for life; gold may have been a good choice. They are spontaneous or sometimes angry: maybe red. Did Poe blend the two colors to make orange? Probably not, he might have just been daft. It may be close to red or gold, but it isn’t either one. Was Poe off his rocker, or was he just as uncertain about what color to use as the rest of us? No one will ever know.

The people I know who are between 21 and 50 seem to be happy. I think I heard that in south-western Russia orange is the color of happiness. Connection? Possibly. Then again some of these people are angry that they are getting older. Red is the color anger, another possible connection. When I think of these people, orange defiantly doesn’t come to mind. Poe was a heavy drinker, maybe his decision about the use of orange was made when he got home from the bar one night. Who knows? One thing is certain, of all the colored rooms in The Masque of the Red Death, Orange was the most pointless.