Review Of Eowyn Ivey's 'The Snow Child'

A CRITIQUE OF THE SNOW CHILD, TAKEN FROM ANGELA CARTER’S THE BLOODY CHAMBER. Throughout ’The Bloody Chamber’, Angela Carter takes the highly successful conventions that belong to once innocent fairy tales, and rips them unremorsefully from their seemingly sound foundations to create a variety of dark, seductive, sensual stories, altering the landscapes beyond all recognition and rewarding the heroines with the freedom of speech thus giving them license to grab hold of the reigns of the story.

     By losing this father figure she was left to fend for herself and was virtually helpless.

However, with her alcoholic dad who rarely kept a job and her mother who suffered mood swings, they had to find food from her school garbage or eat expired food they had previously when they had the slightest bit of money. In addition, when bills and mortgage piled up, they would pack their bags and look for a new home to live in, if they could even call it a stable home, since they would be on the move so often. Jeanette needed a dad who wouldn’t disappear for days at a time, and a mom that was emotionally stable, but because she didn’t have that, she grew up in an environment where she would get teased or harassed for it. Jeanette suffered so much, that even at one point, she tried convincing her mother to leave her father because of the trouble he had caused the family already. A child should be able to depend on their parents for food and to be there for them when they need it, and when that part of a child’s security is taken away, it leaves them lost and on their own, free and confused about what to do next.

The novel “The Coldest Winter Ever” by Sister Souljah follows the life of the lead character Winter Santiago and her family. Born in Brooklyn,New York, Winter Santiago was the daughter of a young mother and the notorious drug dealer Ricky Santiago. From the beginning of the novel Winter lets it known that she was born into luxury, and just because she lived in the projects of Brooklyn didn't mean she was poor.In fact it was the exact opposite for the Santiago family.Winter came into adolescence as a shallow, self-centered individual, motivated solely by physical attractiveness, material possessions and the desire to attract as many men as possible. On Winter’s six-tenth birthday her father Ricky Santiago decides it's finally time to move his family out of the ghetto. Winter’s mother and sisters were very excited for the move although Winter was livid. The family’s move to a mansion in Long Island did not stop Winter from desiring her ghetto culture. It also didn’t help that neither parents were actual parents to Winter. Shortly after the family moves to Rhode island the FBI raid the house and arrest Ricky Santiago on several charges. After Santiago’s arrest his empire begins to crumble. All of the family possessions are seized leaving Winter, her mother and her three younger siblings to fend for themselves. Winter selfishness didn't let that happen,she decided to go on her own and hustle her way back into the lifestyle she once lived.Unfortunately things didn't work out for winter the way she wanted. Instead of getting things done on her own Winter looked for a man to take care of her, because that was the only thing her mother taught her. The same man that was supposed to love and take care of her let her take the fall for his crimes, and ultimately sent Winter to jail for a fifth-teen year sentence.

“It was one of those bull’s-eyes in history, one of those points where everything comes together, where, if you were at that place at that time, you were part of something big. It meant that we weren’t going to get picked up, not on that day and maybe not ever” (Northrop 1). The mood created by Northrop in Trapped is displayed to the readers as negative vibe. Being trapped at a school in a blizzard is obviously not a good thing. So, as a visual representation to the teenagers situation, the snow is described negatively too. In the book Trapped, Michael Northrop uses the snow to symbolize dreadful times and loneliness.

By the end of the book Jeannette starts seeing that she does not agree with her parents motives, ideas, and ways of parenting so Jeannette becomes more vocal of her thoughts and opinions. One situation where she stood up for herself and grasped the idea that she is the only one who controls herself is when Jeannette and her parents get in a fight about money. Her mother concludes that she should “start living her life” for herself and that Jeannette and the other kids could make their own money. This makes Jeannette question why her mother is giving up on them and it ends with Jeannette accusing her that she is not acting like a mother “My mucus is yellow,’ Mom said. ‘If everyone who had yellow mucus stayed home, the schools would be pretty empty,’ I told her. Mom's head snapped up. ‘You can't talk to me like that,’ she said. "I'm your mother.’ ‘If you want to be treated like a mother,’ I said, ‘you should act like one." Then, Jeanette's father comes in and whips her with his belt, and at that very moment Jeannette knew that she would never be whipped again “The air was clear and cool, and the forest floor was thick with leaves that had fallen from the buckeyes and poplars. Late in the afternoon, I sat down on a tree trunk, leaning forward because the backs of my thighs still stung. All through the long walk, the pain had kept me thinking, and by the time I reached the tree trunk, I had made two decisions.” The author uses imagery and symbolism to show that this is when Jeannette has had enough and comes to the realization that she is alone and only her can get herself out of the situation she is in. The imagery used is describing the forest around her, this then merges with symbolism. By saying “the air was clear and cool” it symbolizes as Jeanette's realization and that it was “clear”

Mabel’s motivation is when she hears about Alaska and wants to go there to start here new life with Jack so that she can get away from her failure with her child and because no one will know her there. Yes, some of the characters change a bit as a result of influences from other characters in the book. Another character that I am going to describe is Faina. Faina’s traits are is that she is shy, loves the wilderness and traps animals. I like her character a lot. The factors that make her the way she is that her parents too moved up to Alaska and her dad taught her all of this before he died. Another factor that makes Faina who she is comes from her personality as a person and her personality in the way that she does things throughout the book. Yes, the dialog between the characters is believable. “ That’s right. He’s yours, Garrett said. I know that he’s not like your fox. I thought about trying to live trap one for you, but then I thought a pup might be better. Faina put her palms to the puppy’s cheeks, and the puppy leaned into her touch so that it seemed to be grinning. You’ll have to feed it regularly, Jack spoke up for the first time. He stood with an amused expression and his arms folded. Just feed it whatever you’re eating, and it will do fine (pg 307).” The emotion that this quote conveys is happiness and forgiveness. This quote conveys forgiveness because Garrett killed Faina’s fox and to try to make up for it Garrett goes

Blood Red Snow, by Gunter K. Koschorrek is a graphic rendition of the German War in the Eastern front, which began in 1942. Koschorrek is a former German soldier who kept a frequent account of his experience in the steppes of Russia and the advancement of the German battalion in Stalingrad. Written as a memoir, Koschorrek’s writing serves as a first hand account of the tank and cavalry warfare in the Eastern front. Rather than glorifying the heroic aspects of death and destruction in war, Koschorrek’s strives to give a realistic account of the bitter struggle and retreat of the German army during World War II. His documentation of his experiences in Blood Red Snow serves as a tribute to the survivors as well as the fallen soldiers of the

In “Little Snow White” by Germany, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm, there is a Queen who becomes jealous of her seven-year-old daughter. She envied her daughter’s beauty and sends a huntsman to kill Snow White. Snow White is then all alone and unable to care for herself and becomes dependent of the Seven Dwarfs. Although she is the main character, she is also the weakest character in the story. In Fables, we encounter a very different Snow White. Here Snow White oversees the town, Fabletown. Unlike the original fairytale story, there are no Dwarfs looking after her. She doesn’t need a Prince to come to her rescue because she is the hero in her own right. Her fierceness makes her a strong female who embodies power. Unlike the Little Snow White, in Fables Snow White is the head in charge, she’s independent, and bold.

My daughter and I went to the play “The Snow Queen” at the Marquis Theater in Northville, Michigan on December 10, 2016. The Marquis Theater is a beautifully restored historic landmark. Upon entering, you are transported back to an earlier time. The lobby features the original french doors, the stained glass windows, and the old fashioned ticket booth. The theatre is a victorian design that has two aisle ways with red upholstered seats on the left, right, and middle. The theater is quaint in size but that only adds to the magical allusion that is created when you watch “The Snow Queen.”

Snow White and the Huntsman is an adaptation of the Grimm fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However the focus is not Snow White and her interaction with the seven dwarfs, much like the popular Disney portrayal of the fairytale that viewers have come to know. This version of the fairytale is dark and sinister, placing an emphasis on the evil Queen’s agenda and the Huntsman who is sent to hunt down Snow White. This new action-packed spin on the fairytale includes large battles and fight scenes, while keeping many elements from the original tale like the poison apple and “mirror, mirror on the wall”. The film is directed by Rupert Sanders and features a star-studded cast that includes, Academy

In The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey, an Alaskan setting in the 1920’s contributes to the atmosphere of isolation, harsh conditions, and quiet.

Within the collection of fairy tales, one of the most prominent is Snow White. The tale conjured up by the Brothers Grimm keeps to what one would expect with fairytale stereotypes. However it also plays the part of ancient myths of Aphrodite. The fairytale is simplistic in reasoning, and holds to the ancient goddess’s petty reasoning. Thus, other authors have taken it upon themselves to rewrite it with different plots, once such author being Angela Carter. In her story, The Snow Child, the queen is transformed into a Hera figure. This change rewrites the story’s meaning as well as one’s view point on the villain.

The title is very simple and can cause any reader to think the same thing. Snow according the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the word snow has one main definition. Snow is “the precipitation in the form of small white crystals formed directly from the water vapor of the air at a temperature less than 32 degrees.” In other words, it is the frozen crystals that fall from the sky during the winter season. Just by the title we should be able to tell what the poem will be about, but MacNeice puts a turn on the wording of the poem to catch the reader off guard. This raises the question if MacNeice wanted the poem to be about a snowfall, or does he have a deeper meaning underneath the title? As the poem continues there will be more references at what the poem is about.

Walt Disney had to make changes in the details and the plot of the original Snow White tale published by the German Grimm Brothers in Grimms’ Fairy Tales to fit American society’s interests. These interests during 1930s America that influenced Disney’s decision to change the tale included: the changing role of women in society, the people’s concept of romance, and popular political systems.