Chromatic Semiotics in Samihah Khreis’s Novel Fustuq ‘Abeed

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the semiology of color in narrative discourse as verbal-visual signs that convey psychological, cultural, and aesthetic meanings beyond their descriptive function. The study focuses on the role of color in constructing meaning and shaping the fictional world. It hypothesizes that color in the novelistic text is not merely decorative or ornamental, but rather constitutes a complex sign system, which contributes to meaning-making. This deepens the character's psychological structure and reveals the symbolic and ideological dimensions of the narrated world.

The research methods involve a critical analysis of Fustuq Abeed, a novel published in 2016 by the Jordanian author Samihah Khreis. The theoretical framework of the study integrates narrative semiotics, psychology, and cultural anthropology. The results show that colors such as black, white, blue, and yellow are used to represent conflicts of identity, freedom, and colonialism. Furthermore, color operates as a parallel semiotic system within the text, interacting with other narrative systems to produce a rich, multilayered discourse that enhances the novel’s symbolic depth