Welcome to the Historical Fiction Online forums: a friendly place to discuss, review and discover historical fiction.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Eyes in Novels

User avatar
Michy
Bibliophile
Posts: 1649
Joined: May 2010
Location: California

Post by Michy » Tue August 23rd, 2011, 12:21 am

[quote=""EC2""]I find the genetic coding for eyes fascinating and there are all sorts of trickly little recessive branches and codas that make a difference![/quote] I too find genetics -- not just of eyes but of our whole bodies -- so, so fascinating. It is why I -- a person who hated anything in school that reeked even faintly of "science" from the time I was in first grade -- loved biology in high school so much that I shocked myself by taking a second year of it that wasn't even required. :) (besides the fact that the biology teacher was the coolest, funniest guy -- that made a huge difference, too).

User avatar
Michy
Bibliophile
Posts: 1649
Joined: May 2010
Location: California

Post by Michy » Tue August 23rd, 2011, 12:40 am

[quote=""DianeL""]

I happen to have extremely light brown eyes. [/quote] I'm thinking this must be a pretty rare eyecolor, since I think I've only ever seen dark brown eyes. If you were the heroine of a book, in a scene such as the one that started off this conversation, the author would probably describe your eyes as "amber" or something romantic like that. :)
You can find any color eyes beautiful depending on who is using them to look at you (this may go for the mirror too).
Ah, yes, it is amazing how a person's looks change as we get to know them. I've met men (and women, too, for that matter) that I thought were absolutely gorgeous. But the more I got to know them, the less physically attractive they became. And, then, of course, I've met men who went through just the opposite metamorphosis. :)

User avatar
Divia
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4435
Joined: August 2008
Location: Always Cloudy, Central New York

Post by Divia » Tue August 23rd, 2011, 1:24 am

[quote=""Michy""]Blue may perhaps be the most common eye color among Caucasians, but taking all humans as a whole, brown is the most common color -- by a huge margin. Just think about it -- there are many entire ethnic groups (Asians, Africans, Indians, etc.) whose eyecolor is never anything but brown (except perhaps in extremely rare cases).
[/quote]

My mother said when she was on a cruise in her 20s the men from the Mediterranean were fascinated by her eye color and her brown hair. I'm guessing its cause they rarely saw it.


Ok, everyone take pics of their eyes. :D
News, views, and reviews on books and graphic novels for young adult.
http://yabookmarks.blogspot.com/

User avatar
EC2
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3661
Joined: August 2008
Location: Nottingham UK
Contact:

Post by EC2 » Tue August 23rd, 2011, 8:52 am

Confess to being a 'through the lashes' writer. To me, it creates an immediate impression that's a motif for flirtatiousness, circumspectness, wariness etc depending on the moment, and I don't get hung up on the literal. So I definitely look at it in the traditional Anya Seton way. :)
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

User avatar
fljustice
Bibliophile
Posts: 1995
Joined: March 2010
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Contact:

Post by fljustice » Tue August 23rd, 2011, 5:30 pm

I'm working my way through Queen by Right and one character is described as having purple eyes. Really? I know Elizabeth Taylor was lauded for her violet colored eyes (I never could tell in the movies), but purple is such a weird color.

BTW, mine are green and I'm fair, so my lashes are next to non-existent. I always liked that color and used to wear green contacts to enhance them. My husband's are brown and our daughter has the prettiest grey-green-hazel color with gold highlights. Just loved staring into her eyes as an infant.
Faith L. Justice, Author Website
Image

User avatar
Alisha Marie Klapheke
Avid Reader
Posts: 376
Joined: November 2010
Location: Franklin, TN
Contact:

Post by Alisha Marie Klapheke » Tue August 23rd, 2011, 6:12 pm

I have really enjoyed reading through this thread. It shows how important eyes really are to us humans! We can adore them, be frightened by them, get lost in them...the eyes have it!

FLjustice, my daughter has the same color eyes as your daughter. They are so interesting. She's three and I hope they don't change.

User avatar
Ludmilla
Bibliophile
Posts: 1346
Joined: September 2008
Location: Georgia USA

Post by Ludmilla » Tue August 23rd, 2011, 6:20 pm

Dare I admit I got my husband's eye color wrong (according to him)? I always thought they were brown, but he informed me one day they are dark green. Well, I can see it now, but even so, they still look brown to me.

Mine are blue-green. My father had bright, blue eyes for which his family is known for. I was the only one who had my mother's eyes which were more blue-green. One of my daughters has my Dad's trademark blue eyes. My other daughter has blue-gray eyes.

User avatar
EC2
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3661
Joined: August 2008
Location: Nottingham UK
Contact:

Post by EC2 » Tue August 23rd, 2011, 7:00 pm

[quote=""fljustice""]I'm working my way through Queen by Right and one character is described as having purple eyes. Really? I know Elizabeth Taylor was lauded for her violet colored eyes (I never could tell in the movies), but purple is such a weird color.
[/quote]

Perhaps a very dark blue like the way the tunicela of Roger of Palermo shows up? This is what royal purple looks like? http://medieval.webcon.net.au/extant_ho ... cella.html But agree. My imagining of purple is a bit more like the :( symbol on the forum!
I seem to recall that Sandra Worth's Anne Neville had 'violet orbs' for eyes in The Rose of York
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

User avatar
LoveHistory
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3751
Joined: September 2008
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Contact:

Post by LoveHistory » Tue August 23rd, 2011, 7:49 pm

Don't forget that eye color is affected by what we wear as well. My eyes are a dark blue that looks violet whenever I wear purple and smokey when I wear black. Sometimes they go a little gray on me, and when I'm sick they get a bit of green in them. I like to wear blue because it brings out their natural color (and I love blue).

I'm still trying to figure out what color my kids' eyes are. The oldest has my eyes, always has. The next one has eyes that look like an odd combination of brown and green, leaning toward hazel I think (when he was a baby they were a deep silvery gray). Then I think the third is going to have his father's green eyes. The little one could go green, gray, or brown. Her grandmothers' eyes are gray and brown respectively. Both grandfathers have blue eyes.

My Mom said she was taught in school that brown eyes are dominant. Well she had six kids and only one of them has her brown eyes. I wonder if there are cycles on these things, or if there was a misprint in the textbook, or if someone was just plain wrong.

User avatar
Michy
Bibliophile
Posts: 1649
Joined: May 2010
Location: California

Post by Michy » Tue August 23rd, 2011, 8:18 pm

[quote=""LoveHistory""]My Mom said she was taught in school that brown eyes are dominant. Well she had six kids and only one of them has her brown eyes. I wonder if there are cycles on these things, or if there was a misprint in the textbook, or if someone was just plain wrong.[/quote] No, they weren't wrong, it's like MLE says -- eye color genetics have gotten a little more complex than simply brown is dominant and blue/green is recessive. But even that older, simplistic rule could still account for what happened in your family. Even though your mother's eyes are brown she could be (and probably is) carrying a gene for blue/green. She could pass the blue/green gene on to her children (rather than the brown gene). Depending on what gene is inherited from the other parent, it's possible for the kids to end up with blue or green eyes even though one or both parents have brown eyes.

What they used to say couldn't happen is for two parents with blue or green eyes to have children with brown eyes. But even that has changed and is now possible, although not common, I don't think.

Post Reply

Return to “Chat”