Yellow

The Yellow square is concerned primarily with the intangibles: unlike the Red Square, where prizes usually come in the form of a throne, a pile of gold, or a Princess, the stakes on the Yellow Square are usually more abstract: a championship, personal growth, illumination, success.

This is fitting because the colour Yellow refers to the realm of the abstract; to Ideas, Truth, Reason, Wisdom, Understanding. Typical Yellow occupations might include teaching and engineering; occupations in which there is some element of a puzzle that needs to be solved, or of wisdom that needs to be communicated.

It is worth noting that when you look at the Yellow Square heroes (the Magus, Mother, Disciple and Orphan), there is a relationship between the “right hand” characters (Magus and Mother) and the “left hand” characters (Disciple and Orphan) in their relationship to the world of the intellect. The Disciple and the Orphan are typically exceedingly intelligent in a traditional, book-smart way – like Marius from Les Miserables or Anne from Anne of Green Gables. The Magus and the Mother, on the other hand, often look like they ought to be stupid, when they are, in fact, wise.

A common theme in Yellow plots is the difference between appearance and reality. The villains will generally try to look as though they are working in the best interests of those around them, while the heroes will often appear to be selfish. Take, for example, the story of Daniel: the Wise Men are angry because Daniel has shown them up and won the King's favour by interpreting a dream (a very archetypal thing for a Magus to do), so they go to the King and say “Hey, wouldn't it be great if there was a law saying that people could only pray to you.” To the King, it looks as if they are thinking about him, and trying to help him do what will bring him greater glory, when in fact they are only motivated by their own vain ambitions. A similar situation is found in Sunset Boulevard – Norma Desmond, a classic Parasite, behaves as though the gifts that she gives to Joe are for his benefit, when in fact it becomes increasingly clear that they are a means of entrapping him so that she can play out her own demented dreams of stardom.

Yellow Square heroes, on the other hand, frequently strike a pose that seems proud, selfish, defiant, or even cruel – qualities that in any other story would instantly brand them a villain, or else in need of taming (like the Shrew on the Red Square). Marius marches out on his poor old grandfather; Heidi's grandfather leaves poor Clara to fend for herself without her wheel-chair on a alpine mountain-top; Mr. Miaggi makes Daniel paint his fence and wax his car; Maria flagrantly disobeys Captain Von Trappe and dresses his children in clothing made from old drapes. Yet it is clear in all of these stories – and particularly in those involving a Mother or a Magus, that what appears to be insensitivity or disobedience is actually a means of fulfilling the hero's duties towards those whom they love: Marius marches out on his grandfather and in doing so becomes the sort of man that his grandfather can be proud of; Clara, by being abandoned, relearns to walk; Daniel learns Karate by fixing Mr. Miagi's garden; and Maria's defiance allows her to give Captain Von Trappe the happiness, music, and family that he lost when he was widowed.

All of this is a means of playing out the notion of paradox which is essential to the highest forms of truth: that God is One, and also Three; that it is in losing one's life that one gains it; that it is the poor, the meek, the mourning, and the persecuted who are Blessed; that if you are hungry, you should give your bread to the starving; and so forth.

Ultimately, yellow square stories centre on two spheres of existence: on the idea of a home, and of belonging in the abstract, and on the idea of knowledge and insight, the exploitation of a gift. This is why Sunset Boulevard is a tragedy: Joe becomes so entrapped in Norma's obsession over gifts that she used and lost a long time ago, that he is unable to use his own gifts. In Star Wars, on the other hand, Luke rises to the challenges that Obiwan and Yoda set for him, and he becomes a Jedi warrior. Maria uses her talents to bring music to a group of children, and finds herself a family in the process. Anne of Green Gables fulfills her calling to be a writer, and also gains a family and a home.

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