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The Ocean
White symbolizes the pure, sanitized, and controlled environment in which Maddy lives at the beginning of the novel, as well as her lack of individuality. Everything in her home is white, from the walls and the furniture to Maddy’s T-shirts and shoes. While Maddy doesn’t take issue with the color palette at first, it does read as a symbolic encapsulation of Mom’s attempts to control Maddy’s environment down to the smallest thing and essentially whitewash it of all the colorful emotions and experience that Maddy could potentially experience in the outside world. In doing so, she deprives Maddy of any sense of individuality, or indeed any sense that she exists separately from the house or from her mom.
The Color White Quotes in Everything, Everything
The Everything, Everything quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Color White. 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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21. Future Perfect; Olly
Quotes
Actually, mine’s not blank at all, but I really can’t tell him how beautiful his eyes are. They’re Atlantic Ocean blue, just like he’d said. It’s strange because of course I’d known that. But the difference between knowing it and seeing them in person is the difference between dreaming of flying and flight.
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34. A Tale of Two Maddys; Freedom Card
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Before, I was worried about keeping secrets from her. Now, I’m worried about not being able to have any secrets at all. I know she’s not upset that I bought new clothes. She’s upset that I didn’t ask her opinion and bought them in colors that she didn’t expect. She’s upset with the change she didn’t see coming. I resent and understand it at the same time.
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57. Infected
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“Of course I regret it. A lot of bad things happened on that trip. And when my mother and father died, I couldn’t go back for the funerals. Rosa doesn’t know anything about where she’s from.” She sighs. “You’re not living if you’re not regretting.”
What am I going to regret? My mind cycles through visions: my mom alone in my white room wondering where everyone she’s ever loved went. My mom alone in a green field staring down at my grave and my dad’s grave and my brother’s grave. My mom dying all alone in that house.
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77. Reunion
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I wish I could undo the last few months of knowing him. I would stay in my room. I would hear the truck beeping next door and I would remain on my white couch in my white room reading my brand-new books. I would remember my past and then I would remember not to repeat it.
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The Color White Symbol Timeline in Everything, Everything
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Color White appears in Everything, Everything. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
1. The White Room
...that no matter how many books they’ve read, she’s read more. Her bedroom is entirely white except for the spines of brand-new books, which are are the only color. The books...
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3. Brthdae Uish
...birthday cake, vanilla sponge with vanilla cream frosting. Maddy frosts it and then draws 18 white daisies and white curtains around the sides. Mom declares that the cake is perfect like...
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4. Stays the Same; Life is Short
Maddy is reading on her white couch when Carla arrives the next morning and wishes her happy birthday in Spanish. Carla...
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20. To Those Who Wait
...okay. Carla says that everything, including doing nothing, is a risk. Maddy studies her familiar white room and thinks that Olly is the exact opposite of this space—and a huge risk.
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21. Future Perfect; Olly
...and is decorated like a tropical rainforest, with fake tropical plants, a stream, and aged white wicker furniture. Some days it makes Maddy feel like she’s Outside, but other days it...
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24. Wonderland; Life is Short
...inbox must be overflowing with emails from Olly. She reads Alice in Wonderland on her white couch and feels like she’s trying to not get lost, just like Alice. Maddy thinks...
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28. Mirror, Mirror
...what to wear, which isn’t something Maddy has ever though about much. She only owns white tee shirts, white Keds, and blue jeans in various styles. After dressing, she wonders if...
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51. The Hidden World
...sunroom one late afternoon and watches the light come through the window. She sees bright white dust drift in the light and thinks that there are entire worlds that exist, just...
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77. Reunion
...could undo the last few months, she’d hear him moving in and stay on her white couch with her books.
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