66 pages • 2 hours read
Rajani LaRoccaRed, White, and Whole
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Blood
The motif of blood is present throughout Red, White, and Whole. Reha describes blood as “the river of life / in our veins” (125) and as the thing that ties people together as a family. Although her blood is Indian, Reha was born in America and therefore belongs to both cultures. Like Reha’s dual lives, blood is also made up of two halves: red blood cells and white blood cells. This dichotomy ties into the title of the book and foreshadows Reha’s journey toward understanding herself as a complete whole that is made up of many different components. At the end of the book, Reha sees herself as a “stream with many tributaries” (236), just like the capillaries that merge to become veins and arteries. As she starts to heal from the Grief and Loss of Amma’s death, she feels her mother within her heart, and in her veins and blood.
The image has two edges, however, for as the novel progresses, it becomes clear that blood can also betray the body, as Amma’s blood betrays her when she develops leukemia. In a philosophical connection to this idea, Reha worries that she, Amma’s blood relation, has also betrayed Amma by being more preoccupied with her own small problems than with Amma’s worsening health. As the story progresses, Reha also gains the strength to bear the sight of blood without flinching or fainting, just as she sheds her embarrassment at aspects of her Indian “blood—her heritage—and gains the ability to acknowledge the more difficult things in life without cringing. As she learns to navigate Familial Expectations and her sense of alienation in her American world, she starts to accept her identity as both Indian and American. She becomes brave, and no longer faints at the sight of blood.
Red and White
The colors red and white both take on symbolic value. Amma tells Reha that while white is a wedding color in Christian culture, it is a color for funerals in Hindu culture. Thus, in the context of the novel, white has negative connotations. For example, Amma wore white to her mother’s funeral, and Reha wears white to her graduation ceremony shortly after Amma dies, almost as though she is attending a funeral for her mother. Similarly, the white blood cells in Amma’s bone marrow are the cause of her leukemia. White is also a color of absences; when Reha asks Amma if she wore white to Reha’s grandfather’s funeral, Amma replies that she could not attend at all. Amma was not able to be where she should have been when her father died, just as the white blood cells in her blood that give her leukemia are not where they are supposed to be.
Red, on the other hand, is an auspicious or lucky color. It is the color worn by Indian brides; Amma wore a red sari when she got married. Reha thinks of virtue as red, the color of blood. She sees virtue as something that lives within her, “the legacy of [her] ancestors / the gift of [her] parents / that [she tries] to live up to” (162). When Amma gets sick, Reha resolves to be more virtuous and connected to her family. The symbolism of blood and the color red are therefore closely linked in the novel.
Heroism
The motif of the hero recurs throughout the book. There is much discussion in Reha’s English class about what makes a character or a real person a hero. Reha is conflicted because women in Arthurian legend cannot be heroes. Eventually, Reha and Pete decide that heroism is not gendered. Instead, it can be embodied by anyone who has certain good qualities, such as doing what they believe is right and being brave but not fearless. Reha thinks about the Indian princess hero, Savitri, when she and Pete list these qualities. As Amma gets sicker, Reha resolves to be heroic like Savitri. Pete and Reha’s relationship also help Reha to understand that women can be heroes and that in her own way, she can be one, too.
Reha sees doctors like Dr. Andrews as heroes. Though Dr. Andrews is unable to save Amma’s life, Reha acknowledges that trying is also an important part of being a hero, even if sometimes it is not enough. When Amma dies, Reha realizes that Amma was the most like the hero Savitri, for Amma almost died when Reha was born but still managed to live long enough to love and raise her daughter. Reha comes to see her mother’s survival at this point as a result of her making a bargain with Yama, the Lord of Death, just like Savitri does. In this imaginative version of the story, Amma says to Reha, “Because you are here, I must stay” (13). From this perspective, Amma’s life with Reha is already a life on borrowed time. In the end, Amma is the hero who dedicates her life to caring for her daughter.
