The Bad Weather Friend

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child abuse.

Color variation proves to be an important motif that indicates key aspects of the characters and plot. For the sake of the narrative’s moralistic subtext, Koontz adopts the classic—if simplistic—interpretations of white and black as good and evil, respectively. For instance, Talmadge Clerkenwell, who epitomizes the kindness and compassion lauded in the story, wears an all-white suit, while the antagonistic Mrs. Baneberry-Smith demonstrates her transformation from demure headmaster’s wife to commanding evil scientist by abandoning sweet floral dresses and wearing black, revealing outfits that fit the stereotype of the “femme fatale” stock character. Similarly, Benny’s grandmother Cosima surrounds him in black clothing and bedroom furnishings, and these wardrobe and décor choices are meant to emphasize her cruelty and abusive behavior. In reaction to his traumatic childhood experiences, the adult Benny staunchly defends his decision to decorate his house in an all-white minimalist style, thereby emphasizing his own “niceness” in a very visible fashion.

However, although white-hued objects appear in the narrative to indicate goodness, the presence of white also suggests a lack of personality or warmth, as both Harper and Spike note when they criticize Benny’s décor. Likewise, Benny notices a similar lack of personality and warmth in Llewellyn Urnfield’s kitchen, which is just as stark and minimalist as his own. However, Urnfield’s kitchen décor consists of a mix of black and white, indicating the moral ambiguity of her outlook on life.

In a sharp contrast to this binary setup, Koontz also uses riotous color to indicate “a different kind of awfulness” (265), as when Spike asserts that Upton’s gaudy home is just as atrocious as Benny’s all-white minimalism. Similarly, Benny loathes Urnfield’s collection of “scary-as-hell […] expressionist art” (321), which includes such artists as Francis Bacon and Jackson Pollock. These discordant descriptions of color contrast sharply with Harper’s offbeat life philosophy of striving for a “smooth and blue” path. While the basis of her approach is deliberately nonsensical and is never fully described, the narrative links these adjectives to “a condition of the mind and the heart that all but ensured a more stable and happier life than most people experienced” (217). In Harper’s mind, the key is to find a harmonious balance, and as Benny’s relationship with Harper intensifies, it is clear that he begins to adopt her serene, optimistic outlook on the world, thereby transcending the blandness of his all-white décor and overly “nice” lifestyle.