Princess Tullia has one brown eye and the other blue. Why do you suppose the author chose to depict her this way? Why do you think Anatole attributes different emotions or feelings to Tullia’s brown eye versus her blue eye?
Isn’t this author’s “yin and yang” perspective. According to Wikipedia these forces interact, interconnect, support and perpetuate each other. Isn’t that Tullia’s eyes do for her. Her brown left eye '“seemed to be in deep contemplation” while her blue right eye “sparkled with joy”. By using this analogy the author seemed to point out Tullia is unique.
I agree with you, Ann. I also think it enabled Princess Tullia to convey two distinct emotional states at once, almost as though she were divided between competing selves. At the same time, this narrative choice allowed the author to reveal that Tullia had survived, since her ancestor appeared at the end of the novel.
I agree with the yin and yang interpretation.Those contrasting qualities make her unique and balanced, showing that she contains both seriousness and happiness at the same time. I also think the author may have chosen to depict Tullia this way to give her more emotional depth. In many fairy tales, princesses can feel somewhat flat or one-dimensional, often being portrayed as simply kind, beautiful, or in need of rescue. Tullia’s different eyes suggest that she experiences a wide range of emotions and has a more complex inner life.
I think it was a clever way of gauging the princess’s emotions without her saying a word. This oddity also made it difficult for her to blend in.
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I so agree with Catherine. It was indeed a cleaver way for the princess to express her thoughts without having to verbally expressing them. She never felt she was loved or had a family life. She was a princess, her mother and father, simply the King and Queen. I thought it was also a brilliant way to let the reader know the two young lovers made it to America.
My granddaughter has one blue eye and one green eye so I was touched in reading this. I think the author was trying to show a character with two sides.
To me personally, I see blue eyes as more expressive and warmer than brown eyes. I feel like Anatonle has the same view as he keeps depicting the blue eye as showing more warm emotions that the brown.
I think he chooses to show her this way to show the two sides of her personality and that she has conflicting emotions, also that she is not what people think she is as a princess