the snow child
Analysing ‘The Snow Child’
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‘Midwinter- invincible, immaculate’ the connotations of these 3 words are that the setting is perfect and unbeatable, the word invincible means too powerful to defeated or overcome this alludes the idea the Count is invincible portraying power and dominance over the Snow Child. The word immaculate portrays the Snow Child as pure, virginal and perfect. Carter begins the tale with these three verbs to display that not everything is as it seems, sometimes looks can be deceiving; she is also hinting at the fact that winter will never end and that the snow is harsh and cold. The other tales in the collection that make similar use of pathetic fallacy are ‘The Werewolf, The Company of Wolves and The Courtship of Mr. Lyon, The Erl- King and The Tiger’s Bride’.
The way of naming the characters ‘the Count and his wife’ suggest that the wife is merely and item of the Count’s, it suggest that the Count has superiority over his wife; it also shows the simple-ness within their relationship they are merely together out of duty rather than passion for each other.
The description of the Countess portrays her as callous, jealous and cold hearted, ‘dropped her glove…furs… diamond brooch’ portrays the Countess as rich, and dependent on the love between her and the Count and she is clearly money orientated with the ‘diamond brooch’. The Countess believes that the girl would replace her due to the Count’s desire for a girl. The effect of the description demonstrates the manipulative and jealousy the Countess feels, the idea that someone could replace her, anger her therefore she wants to find a way to get rid of the girl.
Carter subverts from the original tale in which the Queen wishes for a baby by displaying the idea that the Count wants a girl, she subverts the reader in the context that the Count wants a girl not a baby- she does this because she is trying to get across the message that men get what they desire she is also
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‘Midwinter- invincible, immaculate’ the connotations of these 3 words are that the setting is perfect and unbeatable, the word invincible means too powerful to defeated or overcome this alludes the idea the Count is invincible portraying power and dominance over the Snow Child. The word immaculate portrays the Snow Child as pure, virginal and perfect. Carter begins the tale with these three verbs to display that not everything is as it seems, sometimes looks can be deceiving; she is also hinting at the fact that winter will never end and that the snow is harsh and cold. The other tales in the collection that make similar use of pathetic fallacy are ‘The Werewolf, The Company of Wolves and The Courtship of Mr. Lyon, The Erl- King and The Tiger’s Bride’.
The way of naming the characters ‘the Count and his wife’ suggest that the wife is merely and item of the Count’s, it suggest that the Count has superiority over his wife; it also shows the simple-ness within their relationship they are merely together out of duty rather than passion for each other.
The description of the Countess portrays her as callous, jealous and cold hearted, ‘dropped her glove…furs… diamond brooch’ portrays the Countess as rich, and dependent on the love between her and the Count and she is clearly money orientated with the ‘diamond brooch’. The Countess believes that the girl would replace her due to the Count’s desire for a girl. The effect of the description demonstrates the manipulative and jealousy the Countess feels, the idea that someone could replace her, anger her therefore she wants to find a way to get rid of the girl.
Carter subverts from the original tale in which the Queen wishes for a baby by displaying the idea that the Count wants a girl, she subverts the reader in the context that the Count wants a girl not a baby- she does this because she is trying to get across the message that men get what they desire she is also