Asterios Polyp is a graphic novel that is printed in an extremely limited color scheme. For most of the novel David Mazzuchelli utilized only four colors: all three primaries (yellow, red, blue) and purple. The last chapter also uses the rest of the secondaries (green, orange). The purple is the only consistent color throughout- it is the color that provides the structure of the novel. It creates all of the outlines, the shadows, the volume. This is significant for two reasons, the first being that it creates a failed symmetry between the three primary colors. This is because purple is a mix of blue and red. The metaphor is the mixing of Asterios’ and Hana’s worldviews. Whenever yellow interferes, something bad is happening, or Asterios is not where he is meant to be, such as an working as a car mechanic.
