The Third Tale of the "Snow Queen"

As I was responsible for the third part of the seven part tale of the "Snow Queen", I wanted to focus on the depature of Kay, Gerda's journey (meeting the old lady and her flower garden), and the possible reason of the color red since it seems to be pretty dominant in this section of both Gerda and Kay's journeys.

First, I wanted to talk about how Kay departed. It's not part of my section, but it's important because it is the reason why Gerda embarks on her journey in the first place. It seemed to be that Kay was either bewitched or seduced into leaving with the Snow Queen. It also didn't help that he had the fragments of the mirror in his eyes and in his heart. I found that section when he left with her it seemed like Kay was in a trance, and I felt like it had some hidden sexuality embedded into it as well (and in the later parts it seems that his depature and his relationship with the Snow Queen is more than plantonic). But, then we see time has passed and Gerda doesn't want to believe that kay has passed, so she searches for someone or something that would give her clues to his whereabouts. What I wanted to investigate was sacrificing her "red shoes" to the river for answers to where Kay was. What I wanted to know was why is are the "red shoes" are so important? I had a feeling like the "red shoes" signified something sexual, such as Gerda's virginity, since she replied that it was the "dearest thing she owned." I felt like she was willing to give up her virginity in order to get Kay back. Maybe that is a far stretch, but there is something symbolic in those "red shoes". There was such a predominance of red in this section such as the red of the reoccuring red cherry tree or bush, roses, rosy cheeks, the old lady's house being red and blue, or the red silk sheets that Gerda sleeps on. What does it all symbolize?

Then Gerda is thrust upon this journey because she is drifted to another shore, and she lands upon the grandmother's house. Both Kay and Gerda in a sense embarked on their perspective journies not of their own accord. What I found interesting was the house and the character of the grandmother. When we were introduced to her, and were given details of her house I couldn't help but think how much Gerda's quest reminded me of Gretel's. Plus, how the grandmother reminded me of the witch--seems sweet from the outside like her house, but there is something lurking and dangerous behind the surface. How she invited Gerda to "taste her cherries and look at her flowers" (159), or how the old woman locked the door. There was also something menancing in the way that the old woman combed her hair, and stated "I've been really longing for such a sweet little girl" (159). Then just like how Kay forgot Gerda when he meet the Snow Queen, Gerda forgot him when she combed her hair. It seems that both the Snow Queen and the old lady have this bewitching power. It seemed that the old lady wasn't being hospitable, but stalling Gerda from her journey, because she wouldn't allow Gerda to reconginze that she couldn't plant roses, since it is the flower that reminds her of Kay. But, she discovers that roses were missing and that was when she realized how long she had been distracted from her journey to discover and rescue Kay from where he is (she is not aware as to where he is yet). I also was wondering of the significance of the stories that each of the flowers share with Gerda?

I believe Gerda stands as a symbol of pure goodness, and not just purity of the body but of purity of the heart. It was interesting how Kay got pieces of the glass stuck in his eye, but Gerda does not. I think it works for the plot that Kay would become the bitter and "icy" one, and Gerda the pure one who would have to go on this journey to save him. I believe she also is a symbol of goodness, because she was the one who is able to make roses grow out of the black earth. I think we also see later on that Gerda's purity of heart, and strength are the powers that she has over the Snow Queen in order to restore Kay. Gerda's journey if cycled by the "Hero's Journey", starts when she lands on shore of the old lady's house, that is also where she crosses from the "known" to the "unknown", and the threshold guardian that helps her transition before she reaches the "Road of Trials" is the crow. I just wanted to talk of how the crow, which is oddly enough a symbol of darkness and death would be the one to help and guide her on most of her journey. Then we see in the fourth tale the importance of the color red again when Gerda's looks on the bed covered in red for Kay. Why would red be associated with Kay? Maybe it is because he has been seduced by the Snow Queen and is no longer innocent. It seems that Gerda meets a lot of people on her journey to the Snow Queen and Kay, and they all help her in small but meaningful ways to reach the Snow Queen's castle. But, it seems that she has teh greatest connections with the animals that help her on the journey, such as the crow and the reindeer. How she cried when she left the crow and how it was the hardest good-bye, or how the reindeer wept and kissed on the mouth.

I really liked these tales, and I feel like there is so much details meshed into these short tales. There is also so much more to say, and that I wish I could say. But, I wanted to end by saying that the ending is pretty interesting, how they embarked on these journies as preadolscent children and came back as grown-ups. I couldn't believe so much time has passed, as I was reading I thought it might be a month at most. Or was it because they have ventured , matured and grown up before their time? Or because they have witnessed so much, and have suffered and fared difficult times that there is no way that they could return as innocent children? Also, how the ended talking of a "warm, glorious summer" (184) and how they would remain children at heart, how it reminded me of the poems that Lewis Carroll wrote in Alice Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.

* another note: Why did the grandmother have to die? Or did she?