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After his death, Eddie travels through endlessly changing colors in between the phases of heaven. As stated directly during the final pages of the novel, Eddie discovers that these colors represent the ever-changing “emotions of his life.” No one color is more prominent than another, and they are all described in beautiful, specific language. Likewise, Eddie’s emotions are all equally important and add beauty and detail to his experiences in life. Colors also bring Eddie’s memories to life: he remembers the dark brown of Marguerite’s hair, the whiteness of the ribbons she wrapped around bags of taffy on his birthdays, and the blackness of the coal mines where he was held captive during the war. Eddie’s depression and struggle to feel emotion after the war is described as the “darkness.”
Color and Darkness Quotes in The Five People You Meet in Heaven
The The Five People You Meet in Heaven quotes below all refer to the symbol of Color and Darkness. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 21
Quotes
How can he explain such sadness when she is supposed to make him happy? (…) She looks beautiful wearing the print dress Eddie likes, her hair and lips done up. Eddie feels the need to inhale, as if undeserving of such a moment. He fights the darkness within him. “Leave me alone,” he tells it. “Let me feel this way, I should feel it.”
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Chapter 23
Quotes
The old darkness has taken a seat alongside him. He is used to it by now, making room for it the way you make room for a commuter on a crowded bus.
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Chapter 35
Quotes
He was nothing now, a leaf in the water, and she pulled him gently, through shadow and light, through shades of blue and ivory and lemon and black, and he realized all these colors, all along, were the emotions of his life.
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Get the entire Five People LitChart as a printable PDF.
Color and Darkness Symbol Timeline in The Five People You Meet in Heaven
The timeline below shows where the symbol Color and Darkness appears in The Five People You Meet in Heaven. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...Ruby Pier. They danced to big band music by the ocean, and Eddie remembers the dark color of Marguerite’s hair falling over her shoulder as she waved goodnight. Eddie went home...
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Chapter 3
Eddie has just died, and he is now floating through a series of vibrant changing colors and peaceful oceanic scenery, remembering his last moments. He wonders if he saved “Amy or...
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Chapter 8
...he grew up, the Blue Man’s use of the poisonous remedy turned his skin the color blue. He was then considered a freak, and he found himself alone and jobless until...
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Chapter 10
...we spend thinking we are alone.” Then the Blue Man’s skin changes back to normal color, and Eddie is pulled into the sky.
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Chapter 13
...and Four—also seem desperate and malnourished. One day, the “Crazies” force the unit into a dark coalmine. At night, Eddie holds a photo of Marguerite that he keeps crumpled up in...
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Chapter 18
Another wind picks Eddie up, and he travels again through the colors of heaven. He travels through the stars, landing among the snow-capped mountains. He now feels...
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Chapter 19
...where he is. Eddie wishes they would leave, as he feels a sense of incredible darkness, but he tries to seem happy to have them. Everyone busies themselves, except for Eddie’s...
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Chapter 21
...the flaming village in the Philippines, he hears a loud, constant scream. The sense of “darkness” stays with Eddie as he wakes, making him feel detached and unmotivated. He fears explaining...
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Chapter 23
...that Eddie isn’t very much fun, even on his birthday. The narrator comments that the darkness from the war still hangs over Eddie. Eddie continues thinking about the accident at Brighton....
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Chapter 24
...and pretty, watching him from a distance. Then she disappears again into a sky the color of jade.
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Chapter 33
Surrounded by silence and whiteness, Eddie misses Marguerite terribly. He feels nothing, and a long time passes in that empty...
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Chapter 34
...him a cake, invite over friends, and give him a bag of taffy with a white ribbon. Eddie goes to work and then spends the night alone—it is an ordinary day....
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Chapter 35
...shadow in the hut that he saw in the Philippines. All of his nightmares, the darkness he had felt for years—he realizes it came from this, the life he had taken...
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...of his life. Guided by Tala’s hand, Eddie is carried along the current through endless colors. He understands now that all of the colors he has floated and swam through in...
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