The Unraveling of Julia

The color blue has several symbolic meanings in the novel. Mike is killed by a man in a “blue hoodie” (2), which causes blue to represent death. Blue also becomes an important clue in discovering the murderer is Italian. The hoodie is team gear for the Gli Azzuri (Azure Blues) soccer team. The blue hoodie represents nationality and sports affiliation, as well as death.

Next, blue eyes are a recessive trait that is passed down in Julia’s family. Julia sees her eyes in pictures of Rossi and Fiamma, as well as in Fiamma’s self-portraits. Fiamma’s coworkers are also able to see the resemblance in Fiamma and Julia’s blue eyes. Fiamma recognizes Julia as her daughter after Julia takes off her sunglasses and Fiamma sees her blue eyes. Blue represents Julia’s bloodline, all the way back to Caterina. In Julia’s nightmare, “two gargantuan, enraged eyes glared down at her from Caterina Sforza’s face, their gigantic irises glinting electric blue” (70). This shade of blue appears in another nightmare. In it, Julia is strangled with “her face turning electric blue” (94). Electric blue is more shocking than the blue of Julia’s family’s eyes or the team gear. The color blue is also part of Julia’s psychic visions.