Dedicated to my friend Sean who gave me the idea for this.

Is there pure black and pure white? Many people think there is a bold line between the two. Artistically speaking, black and white are not even colors. But the colors black and white also do not exist in the real world. Anything people see as black or white is really heavily tinted gray.

Black and white is a popular metaphor. It is mostly used in literature like the ancient poem of the hero Beowulf. Beowulf came to the palace of the great King of the Danes, Hrothgar to slay the monster Grendle. They said that Grendle was pure evil and that Hrothgar was pure good. In Beowulf, Beowulf’s horse was white with a black mane. In the end Beowulf had eliminated not only Grendle but also Grendle’s mother. As a gift Hrothgar offers Beowulf white birds. But Beowulf said that he would like white and black birds. This mixture of different colored birds is a metaphorical mix of good and evil, black and white.

Black is what most people see as dark. In many superstitious ways black stands for darkness, death, evil, and pain. But what most people don’t see is the white in the black. In the darkness lie your dreams. Past death lies a peaceful beyond for people. There is no such thing as pure evil for everyone has some good in him or her. With pain, that which does not kill you makes you stronger. There is no pure black, there is no perpetual darkness, and pure evil does not exist.

White is stereotypically pure. In popular belief white stands for light, life, clarity, and pleasantry. There is also a dark side to the white. There are always shadows hiding on even the lightest days. Life can (even though you can get past them) still has rocks in the road. Clarity no matter how pure can be deceiving. With pleasantry you always know that after a while it will end for a time. White is supposedly the essence of all colors combined so technically white is not a pure color. In fact, white is not a color.

In conclusion, white and black have been used as metaphors before even circa 1100 A.D. But the truth is that both literally and metaphorically black and white are not true colors. They each have a bit of each other entwined in one another. Although some people see things black and white, most people know that the world is truly gray.