A recurring theme in the David Saga series is 14-year-old Charlie’s discovery of “color” after enduring a gray world since birth.
They say that characters write their own story. The author just rides the mystery of what happens next, the same as the reader. I find this true, especially as Charlie’s character reveals aspects of reality I never recognized in the writing process. While developing book four, I have pondered more about Charlie’s deepest desires. He continually seeks “color” while facing dark times, so what drives this longing?
His need for love seemed to explain it. Like in book one, Charlie asks David why he is different, saying, “Everything was gray and dead, but with you I see colors.” David explains that color appears in the light. He says, “Perhaps you see God’s light shining through me…and anyone who shares God’s love.”
However, I dusted off book one this morning. Upon closer examination of Charlie’s initial character, I’ve realised he doesn’t always find “color” in acts of kindness and affection. He doesn’t lose it from a lack of love, either. Though he’s a fictional figure, I wonder if Charlie’s story reveals hidden elements. Perhaps there’s something more to “light” and love beyond my understanding while writing the story. I see a pattern of truth, honesty, and reality bringing Charlie light and color. Then, before long, deception sinks him back into the gray, dead world again.
Might truth, honesty, and reality play a vital role in love?
Charlie’s “colors” turn gray when shrouded by dishonesty.
The color fades for Charlie, not from a lack of love. While David was still there showing kindness, Charlie lost the bright world from dishonesty. He lies to David, saying, “‘Go away. I hate you.’” Charlie knows he has to say goodbye, so, “The words flew from Charlie’s mouth…This was the hardest part, and whether or not he wanted his world to turn gray, the colors disappeared.” Yet, the first vibrancy in Charlie’s life bloomed from love. “As [Charlie] drank from the cup David held to his lips and ate the forkful of beans and cheese held to his mouth, the world turned real again, with color and light.” David’s care for Charlie allows him to see color for the first time. This care and compassion (what many describe as love) brings the color. So, maybe avoiding hard truths warps love, dimming its glow. The lies told to protect one’s heart ultimately bring more pain or destruction.
Is honesty required to feel at home?
However, Charlie struggles to accept the difficult reality of losing his beloved home, where David serves as his staff. What is it about Westside Boys’ Home that Charlie calls it the only place he felt at home? Might honesty again play a role? “Soon [Charlie’s] entire life would change…The bright colors and good feelings he first noticed this morning disappeared. What if more changes destroyed the happy place he found here at Westside? He’d lose hope of ever returning to a house he could call home.” Home is a space to let down guards and relax without fear of exposing “honest” emotions? Charlie had never let down his guard until David cared for him at Westside. “Somehow David softened the bad feelings, changed the air so Charlie could breathe, tore him open so the dirt spilled out, then washed away the scum.” Doesn’t life grow dim and colorless without a place to feel at home? To be genuine, it seems people require a safe and loving environment.
False beliefs bring darkness, truth brings light
Then again, suppose no place exists where a person truly feels at home. Are they doomed to a colorless void? What is the secret to contentment in any and every circumstance? (Phil. 4:12). Might an honest heart clinging to truth play a role?
Charlie considered himself inherently worthless from birth. He told David, “‘I thought you hated me.’” Charlie thought he deserved to “…live in the gray nothingness because he was nothing.” Charlie clung to a lie even while David loved him, and his false belief kept him in darkness.
But the lies lost their grip, as Charlie “… couldn’t go there anymore, not after seeing the colors and breathing fresh air for the first time.” Through David’s consistent care, “color” crept into Charlie’s existence until he clung to what David showed him. David “… was the one who made Charlie hope, made him think he mattered enough to live in the actual world.” The “light” came when Charlie let go of the lie and embraced the truth of his value. He holds onto this truth to avoid the darkness and keep vibrancy in his life wherever he goes. “He wanted to feel the colors and touch the goodness, to empty himself out and fill himself with light so all the darkness in the world never touched him again.”
Charlie doesn’t need a tangible place to gain a sense of home. He only needs to embrace the truth of love.
Color ink symbolizes a true belief
Charlie guards his heart while saying goodbye to those he’d grown attached to. He lies to himself, that they don’t matter. Yet, this self-deception doesn’t completely take hold. We see this when Charlie’s staff and house mates say goodbye through a colorful card. He’s told it contains messages about the value they saw in him as a person, but he refutes this. He knows he treated them badly, so he says, “‘Everyone wants me to leave.’” Although Charlie can’t read, he notices that “… lots of messages in adult and kid writing, all in different colors” cover the inside and back of the card. If Charlie only sees color when embracing truth, he must believe the words truly hold comforting words and wishes.
No one is completely honest in every area of their life. David tells Charlie, “‘We’re all dead to what matters most until God digs us out, turns us upside down, breaks us apart, and plants his beauty inside us. No words can describe the value God sees in you, how he wants you as his child, and how deeply he loves you. If you let him, God’s colors will shine through you too.’” Everyone harbors false beliefs and deception in their mind, often unknowingly, but where there is truth, there is light.
Jesus’ link between light and truth
Of course, conclusions based on a character analysis mean nothing unless scripture backs it. Does the Bible make a connection between light and truth? Does light grow dark in the absence of truth?
When speaking to a crowd, Jesus testifies, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). But the Pharisees challenged him (John 8:13). They found his words unbelievable. The world’s light stood right before them, but they denied it. They challenged his testimony about himself, but he defended his word as TRUE. He said, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid.” Light and truth go hand in hand, because, as Jesus says, “… whoever lives by the truth comes into the light.” (John 3:21) and, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Light can’t shine until it is embraced as true.
Charlie represents those born into a world completely void of truth and in utter darkness. He demonstrates those who receive light from the love of others and embrace it as true. The world keeps trying to deceive. But after living in the darkness of putrid lies, a willing heart wants nothing more than to see colors. Keeping vibrancy, no matter how dark the circumstances, only happens by embracing the light of Christ as true. May those who believe live honest lives, revealing dishonesty, so Christ’s love shines for all to see.