Passage V

Coloring the Past

[I]

When we were children, my older brother and I spent many afternoons coloring at the kitchen table.(61) I would hold up a carnation pink or a lime green crayon, cover the worn label with my thumb, and asking my brother what color I was holding. I was always surprised time after time, he could not tell the difference between a pink crayon and a green one. The reason for this was that he is color-blind.

[2]

[1] This is rarely the case. [2] "Color-blind" is a bit of a misnomer, as it implies that people with color blindness cannot see any colors. [3] The human eye contains rod cells, which allow us to see black and white and perceive gradations of lightness, and cone cells, which allow us to see color. [4] Almost all instances of color blindness involve only the eye's reception of red and green. [5] Most people with color blindness cannot differentiate between red and green, but others just see these colors differently than people without color blindness.(65)

[3]

Seven percent of American males are color-blind, while only 0.4 percent of American females are. This conversion supports the idea that the gene for color blindness is carried on the X chromosome, men have only one X chromosome (in addition to one Y chromosome) . [A] Women have two X chromosomes, so a deficiency in it can be compensated for by the other.

[4]

My brother can easily distinguish pure reds from pure greens without any difficulty. [B] However, the farther these colors are from “pure” (such as carnation pink or lime green), the more difficult it is for him to tell the difference.

[5]

It has been years since I bothered my brother with a crayon-color guessing game, but I am still intrigued by how he perceives color. [C] He has became a successful painter specializing in, landscapes of exotic places rendered in vivid colors. [D] He swirls bright color over canvas, transforming pats of apple red, lemon yellow, and robin's egg blue paint into dazzling and vibrant hills, beaches, and mountains, like visions out of fantastic dreams.