Red

In Emezi’s novel, the color red is frequently associated with blood and is symbolic of death and rebirth. This symbolism comes into play in the first chapter, when the narration mentions a red lightbulb in the bathroom where Feyi and Milan are having sex: “Speckled tiles stretched around them, washed bloody in the light of the red bulb someone had screwed into the ceiling” (1). This act serves as a symbolic “birth” for Feyi, who at the beginning of the novel is finding herself interested in sex and pleasure to a degree that she has not been since the death of her husband, Jonah, in a car accident five years ago. Blood imagery alluding to Jonah’s death is more obvious, as Feyi uses blood in the art that she creates to express her grief. By using blood to evoke birth as well, Emezi shows throughout...