Wednesday 25 September 2013

The Snow Child - notes 18th/sept

allegory: a story that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political message
defiled: necrophilia

how is a feminist message contained within the snow child?

1-creation of fear  not expecting the male to climb off his horse and have sex with his own daughter   disturbing
2-the snow child is the fathers daughter → naked → his ideal of a woman (young) → mother is envious
3-father has sex with his own daughter → she is dying → blurring of reality/fantasy 
4-father has sex with his daughter → gives life (as in to reproduce) → the giving of life by the father is an unsuccessful 

gothic conventions in the snow child:

-fondess for the symbols of darkness and light → literally and metaphorically
-significant use of the setting
-creation of fear as a narrative priority
-a fascination with the influence of the past
-a difference between male and female roles, which themselves often follow particular conventions
-a blurring of reality and fantasy, being awake and dreaming within roles
-a tendency for certain psychological traits to occur within the main character (??????)

form:

-bloody chamber is a series of short stories
-snow child is a vignette, the shortness of which makes it poignant and increases the impact to disturb
-new stories, not a 'version'
-can be linked to a feminist message
-Angela Carter was a feminist 
-the metamorphoses in the stories is also seen to be criticising society's imposition of gender roles through patriarchy

setting:

-mid-winter → gothic → bleak 
-white
-invisible, immaculate 
-begins as a typical fairytale fascination by locating the story in time but it is uninviting 'mid-winter'
→ power of nature through pathetic fallacy 





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