Summary Of Blood By Janice Galloway

“Blood” by Janice Galloway narrates the day of a teenage girl starting with her dentist appointment. It is a seemingly normal narrative that actually reveals an in depth analysis about human emotion. It shows a teenage girl who is suffering from low self-esteem. In her adult relationships, specifically male, she constantly gets reinforced that she should be embarrassed because of her gender. This contributes to her own low self-perception. In fact, her own self-image is symbolized by color contrasts between yellow and white. Through her own definitions of the two, it shows how she thinks of herself. This is how the minor binary oppositions- male vs female, yellow vs white- contribute to the overarching binary Embarrassment vs Comfort.
The story portrays male and female tensions. It shows

that in this society women are held to a high standard of social rules. For example, when the protagonist is uncomfortable with blood in her mouth, while walking down the street, she refuses to spit it out and says “Besides, girls didn’t spit in the street” (90). The punishment for breaking social rules could be criticism that would lead to embarrassment. And a girl who has low-self-esteem, the breaking of theses social rules could lead to further feelings of inadequacy. In this case, since she doesn’t break the rules she is spared embarrassment and opprobrium but not uncomfortableness. She could still choose to go down the street that has the “shouting men” that “whistle loud enough to make the whole street turn and look” (89).Still she chooses to save herself from embarrassment but that means sacrificing her comfort.
On multiple occasions the female protagonist is subtly reinforced that her gender is something to be embarrassed over. This constantly comes from the male adults in the story. It is shown when the main character has an interaction with her male teacher about a male student being afraid of girls. The teacher said “he was afraid of girls and who could blame him haha” and the protagonist internal reply is “she’d never understood the joke too well but it seemed to be right enough” (91). It shows that she has heard similar statements that imply she is scary because of her gender alone. Although she consciously agrees, she unknowingly internalizes the belief that she is somehow at fault. She does not recognize that those statements are wrong. She does not recognize that it causes her to feel embarrassed and uncomfortable about her body and gender.
It is already previously stated that the female protagonist has low self-esteem which stems from pressure from society and from men.

Yet, her self-esteem issues become evident when she contrast colors: This is between the colors yellow and white. When she describes these colors she then applies them to herself. Implying that the colors also reflect how she sees herself. She shows her antipathy for the girl’s bathroom when she says “Yellow. The light the sheen off the mirrors. It was always horrible coming here. She could usually manage to get through the days without having to” (91).She associates the color yellow with horribleness and ugliness and uncomfortableness. Then later she says “Her own face reflected yellow over the nearside row of the sinks “(91).On the surface she sees herself as all the things she described the yellow bathroom as. In the beginning, she defines the pulled tooth roots as “a yellow clawhammer” and the actual tooth as “ a deformed parsnip”(89). Since the tooth came from inside her and she associates it with yellow it symbolizes that she does not feel comfortable with herself. These two examples paired with the color yellow reflect her low

self-esteem
The yellow symbolism sufficiently describes her mental state. Yet the white as an antipode, strengths the connection that she is uncomfortable in her body. She says that the music room makes her fell more relaxed and comfortable unlike home. She then later describes the music room as “the white room…The best one: the rosewood piano and the soundproofing made it feel warm” (92). Her definition of the white room symbolizes a place where she can be comfortable without fear of embarrassment. She compares her “ivory tooth” to the piano keys and says “the keys where whiter” (91). This signifies that even in her comfortable place she can’t escape how low-spirited she feels inside. This becomes even clearer when she tries to put her yellow looking fingers on the keyboard “trying to be something else: a piece of music” (93-94).
The Overarching binary is embarrassment vs comfort. The main character cares how others will perceive her. She is often embarrassed about her body’s natural functions even though she can’t control them. This awareness of how others will perceive her lowers her own self-perception. She seeks to avoid embarrassment at the cost of her comfort. For example, when she has her period