Setting in The Snow Child

Choose one setting carter uses and discuss how it is significant in the telling of the story.

For this question, I chose to focus on The Snow Child (no surprises there I’m sure) however, this is not simple just because we have recently discussed it, but also due to the setting being extremely important (in my opinion) to the telling of the story.

The Snow Child documents the story of a count and countess travelling through a forest, the count points out aspects of the surroundings that he wishes were aspects of a ‘girl’ she then appears, dies and the count then has sex with her causing her to melt away. It’s certainly a strange tale that is clearly low in levels of realism; this brings me to my first key point regarding the setting. There are aspects of the setting that are nonsensical such as ‘they came to a hole in the snow; this hole is filled with blood’ this establishes elements of the Gothic straight from the opening of the story, which is a key genre within the story. Furthermore, the ‘hole filled with blood’ could be thought to be symbolic of a vagina, therefore with the count calming that he wants as girl as ‘red as blood’ this suggests that men see women’s reproductive organs as something that they have the ability to lay claim over. To further this point, it could be argued that this also reflects how men feel that they have the ability to design women as they see fit which can be seen in the other elements that he requests such as ‘I wish I had a girl as white as snow’.

The description of the wider world itself is also very important, the wider world is described to be ‘the whole world was white’ the word white carries connotations of being sterile and cleanliness, this could be symbolic of his wife being sterile, and therefore unable to bear him a child, which has then caused him to seek other women. It is also important to consider the title of ‘the snow child’ which, when the white is interpreted as being sterile, could be thought to mean that she is the child that he seeks due to her being sterile. He lists specific aspects that he craves from her such as ‘black as that birds feathers’ the countess is incapable of doing anything to try and stop his desires of this child. As what she does try does not prove successful ‘is she a fish? To swim in such cold water’ this shows how the Count has the superior level of power over her and the decisions that are made. However, when the girl is then described to ‘melt’ this how due to there being no marital connection, the potential for a child is removed and she is then shunned from society and ‘melts’. The count then returns to his wife which is symbolically shown when he hands her the rose.

Setting can also be seen in the use of the ‘rose’ that causes the death of the snow child. This is important as roses are symbolic of beauty; this suggests that it is the beauty of the snow child that causes her death. Furthermore, this could also be interpreted as a reference to the fairy tale of Snow White, however, the princes kiss takes a more sinister form. The red of the rose is also important to consider due to the connotations of danger that it carries; it also carries connotations of blood. This helps to build a Gothic tone into the story.

Overall, setting is a key aspect of The Snow Child as it helps to not only foreshadow events and allow different readings to be taken, for also allows for the genres within the story to be emphasised.

How does Carter create her characters? Choose one character we have not discussed in class and explain how this character is presented.

How does Carter create her characters? Choose one character we have not discussed in class and explain how this character is presented.

The Bloody Chamber is a reworking of the fairy tale of Blue Beard, and details a man (the Marquis in this text) who marries women and then kills and displays their corpses. The sory follows the narrator’s (his latest wife) struggle to break free from his oppression and attempt to escape alive. The character of the Marquis can be read in a variety of ways, however I believe the strongest view to be that he represents the physical embodiment of female oppression and the oppression that capitalism exerts onto the lower classes.

The dominance of men, the Marquis in this text, is established early on. This is seen when she describes that she has ‘ceased to be her child in becoming his wife’ in regard to her mother. This shows that men have the ability to sever all ties to others upon marriage and take superior control over women that causes them to become detached from their previous life. The relationship between child and parent is often something that is thought to be a natural strong bond, so therefore with marriage severing the relationship between parent and child it suggests that the idea of ‘marriage’ (and more importantly men’s dominance and desire to change women) is something that is unnatural, this shows how the text is seeking to highlight the negative impacts that marriage has on women. Carter builds the character of the Marquis which leaves the reader with the impression that he is an oppressive figure early on. This also suggests that upon marriage she is forced to change as she is no longer a ‘child’ and is instead a ‘wife’ this shows how men’s oppression causes women to transform into their husbands desire, rather than accepting them for who they are. All this builds the character to be seen as an oppressive and violent person that is dominated by his own selfish greed, Carter may have written the character in this way to emphasise the negative effect males have over women.

Furthermore, there are Marxists interpretations that can be taken from this text which builds the Marquis as not only the representation female domination, but also the oppression of the working class under the upper class. This can be seen when the narrator quotes to say ‘I’m sure I want to marry him’ regarding if she loves him or not, it is then later revealed to the reader that the family is incredibly poor and thus this marriage to the Marquis will bring the family the ability to survive. This shows the dominance that the upper class exerts as it is shown to take a ceremony that is associated with love and happiness and instead turns into a business deal. On the other hand, this could be thought to portray the Marquis in a positive light as he is providing a family with the ability to survive, however it is revealed later that this almost charitable nature is actually driven by his selfish desires. Furthermore this  relationship is shown to be toxic when he attempts to murder her, this shows how the upper class regard the lower classes as something they have superior power over to even decide when they live and die. This builds the Marquis as a physical embodiment of capitalist oppression, his further disregard for the lower classes and women is seen when he is described to inspect her like a ‘slab of meat’ this builds a character that shows no regard for human life (especially that of women) and also builds him to seen driven by sexual desire.

The Marquis is also built as a violent and psychopathic creature, this can be seen in his display of the ‘iron maiden’ which is a device associated with torture. Furthermore, this iron maiden represents his ability to oppress and abuse women. This is due to the device itself being in the physical style of a women while containing spikes, thus representing how his oppression of her physically also destroys her from within. The Marquis’ violent nature is also seen in the wedding gift that the narrator receives, the gift she receives is ‘a choker of rubies’ this is important to the context at the time as a red ribbon was worn by surviving French aristocracy who escaped the French revolution without being decapitated. This foreshadows his attempt to decapitate her with the ‘ceremonial sword’ this shows how the character of the Marquis had this attempt planned before he presented her with this gift, thus showing him to be a selfish character that is driven purely by violent desires. In expansion of this, it could be thought to represent the dangers of greed and oppression of the middle classes. This is because the narrator comes from a working class background, but is then given the ruby choker (representing the decapitation of the upper classes) which foreshadows her attempted murder, thus showing the dangers of greed and trusting the upper classes. This shows the Marquis to be a manipulative character and also as the representation of the dominance and greed of the upper classes.

Overall, Carter builds the character of the Marquis with various images of violence and dominance. This could have been done to try and illustrate the dominance and oppression that women feel within a marriage, thus opening the reader’s minds to these problems.