Within Beloved, colour is a recurring and significant theme, particularly the colour red. Perhaps this is because red can symbolise such a variety of things and throughout Beloved, the meaning of these objects varies. Beloved is full of strong feelings and emotions so the use of colour could represent these feelings. The colour of skin was a sensitive issue so the use of colour within the novel could represent the treatment that the characters would have had to deal with.

It would seem that overall, red symbolises life and the intuitive nature of human existence however in Beloved, life often goes with death and therefore red symbolises presence and absence. For example, the roses lining the way to the carnival, were already 'doomed' and 'dying'. This is significant as this outing could be the start of a new and better 'life' for Sethe, Denver and Paul D but these 'rotten roses' simply have a scent of 'death' and thus, perhaps not a new life for 'the three shadows'.

In a way, red could symbolise hope, but hope that leads to nothing but more death and misery. The red rooster signifies manhood to Paul D, but a manhood that he has been denied of. Denver's red velvet as another example is an image of a brighter future but it is unlikely that her future will be much better. For a reader, this use of colour, particularly with the idea of lost hope, is effective and can be quite moving.

Right from the beginning of the novel, colour is used to set the scene and show the mood. 124 Bluestone Road is described as ‘gray and white’ on the first page of the novel, which gives the impression of the overarching misery already. The family’s lack of money means that 124 has an absence of colour – ‘the full range of the dark and the muted that thrift the modesty allowed’. This links to how Baby Suggs feels.
She has had such a bad experience that she chooses to 'starve herself of color'. This lack of colour in her life is caused by the suffering throughout her life; the horror of slavery, the loss of loved ones and the way in which people do not want to associate themselves with the family because of the mysteries of 124. This could be seen as ironic as the whole novel is about the discrimination against colour.

Sethe is effected by colour, however this is in a different way to Baby Suggs. The first time she notices colour or the lack of colour is after Paul D arrives. To Sethe, ‘it is clear why Baby Suggs was so starved for color’ and realised how ‘little color there was in the house’. In a sense, she could be feeling the same way as Baby Suggs by this point – all of the negative events in her life have perhaps caught up with her because she realises that there is no colour both physically and mentally in her life. ‘The last colors she remembered was the pink chips in the headstone of her baby girl’, and although pink is a warm colour, it is not a warm memory for Sethe.

It is fair to say that colour is a very significant theme within Beloved. It represents many different things and shows the importance of skin colour and the effects that discrimination can have on individuals and a race as a whole.