Traffic Light Romance in Barry Callaghans Mellow Yellow - Essay Example

February 12, Traffic Light Romance in Barry Callaghan’s “Mellow Yellow” Stop and go is for traffic lights, not love. BarryCallaghan’s “Mellow Yellow” shows the problems of using stop-and-go signal lights in romance. Traffic lights have clear meanings- go, stop, and wait- and these lights mean something to the Marie-Claire McBride and Conrad Zingg (Connie). They are starting to get serious, but something gets in the way. The story uses the metaphor of traffic to portray the opposing personalities of Connie and Marie-Clarie through traffic light colors and their potential meanings, and why, being so opposite, their relationship ends up with a bright red stop light. The couple has conflicting personalities because while Connie has a serious, reserved, and confident character that matches the red light, Marie-Claire is hesitant, which makes her a yellow light, and yet her open attitude in life makes her a green light person. Connie has a serious attitude in life, although Marie-Claire enjoys their laughs together. An example is when he gets serious with his darts, where when he watches dart games on TV, he does not speak to Marie-Claire and bites his knuckles until they are “red, almost raw” (40). He takes things too seriously he gets anxious over them. Marie-Claire does not get too serious in life, which is why when her mother asks her what she is going to do with her life, she just answers that she is “going to live it” (35). Her carefree attitude can be seen as yellow light, undecided in making concrete future plans. Moreover, when Marie-Claire first brought Connie to her house, she noticed that he was trying to be friendly, but appears cold. She observed him as “very sure of himself, very amiable, and yet aloof” (36). The story makes him look like a stop light where people stop to look at him, but they are anxious to also go and leave him because of his aloofness. Connie can also be cold to Marie-Claire. When he does not like what she does, he would either laugh at her or give her a “disdainful look,” like he observes her walking gracefully in the bar (41). Instead of telling her how he feels, he keeps everything bottled up. An example of his reservation is when he stays silent during dinner with Marie-Claire’s parents because of her father’s silence, where Connie reacted by not talking “too much” or being “overbearing” (38). He should have tried to break the ice between him and Marie-Claire’s father, but instead, he responded to silence with silence. In addition, Conrad is as set as a red light because he is sure of his future (38). He is the kind of person who plans ahead. Marie-Claire is a green light person because she likes existing in the present and just keeping going on with life. For instance, when her father told her that he disapproves of Connie, Marie-Claire shrugs him off and tells herself, “Tomorrow is another day” (38). She is quite optimistic of her future even when she does not plan for it. These differences are like a wedge that is keeping them apart. Marie-Claire also tells Connie that she is a yellow light but in truth, she is a green light who is sensitive to what others feel and wants everyone to go and have a good time. Marie-Claire knows how to read people’s behaviors. For instance, though Jackson calls Connie his “ace boon coon,” he also wears a “wry belittling smirk” (44). She knows the difference between truth and superficiality. In addition, Marie-Claire wants to enjoy life’s little moments, a green light approach to life. She enjoys whistling because it gives her a chance to express herself without using words. To whistle back to a train (34) is a source of power for her because a train symbolizes traveling and traveling is freedom. Marie-Claire wants to be free without thinking of the future, although she wants to be with people who love her. With these differences, it is not possible for them to have a relationship because Conrad is a red light stop who cannot commit to anyone. Marie-Claire is hurt that Conrad wants her to make a decision about their relationship, yet he does not even tell her when his birthday is (42). He has also never told her he loves her, only that “he valued her more than anything in the world” (43). Yet, when their last date arrives and Marie-Claire leaves him, he cannot bring himself to cross the street and call her to tell her he loves her (47). She cannot also go to him because she knows that “he’d be scared stiff” if she “took him off into the graveyard at night” (47). Marie-Claire is just hesitant, but she is sure she loves him. Conrad tells her when he brings her home that she should not be “scared” (47). Conrad is ironically the man who seems so sure of himself and in control of his emotions, yet he cannot make a decision about their relationship because he is afraid to love. She realizes that her father is right, “stop and go, it doesn’t work” (48) because a relationship starts with a clear green light from both parties. If Conrad cannot commit to her and become a green light too, then their relationship is doomed from the start. She maintains her green light and moves on. After deciding to break up with Conrad, “she couldn’t wait to go to sleep and then wake in the morning to the all of the train whistle coming to her across the graveyard” (48). This means she is ready to go back to her routine and be in control of the traffic light of her life. Marie-Claire’s green means she is ready to go ahead and to move on. “Mellow Yellow” uses traffic sign to show the conflict between two people who have different personalities. They seem to be in love already because they are spending time together without being too angry of each other’s weaknesses. Marie-Claire, however, wants to move on to the next phase of their relationship and get serious, but Connie cannot make a decision. Afraid to risk and to fall in love, Connie misses the green light of change, and also, the green light of love and happiness. Work Cited Callaghan, Barry. “Mellow Yellow.” The White Collar Book: Poetry and Prose of Canadian Business Life. Eds. Bruce Meyer and Carolyn M. Meyer. Windsor, Ont: Black Moss Press, 2011. 34-48. Print. Read More