In Thursday's lesson we looked at the shortest story in the collection: 'The Snow Child', a very strange and twisted take on the classic fairytale Snow White. The whole story is very ambiguous in its meanings and there are many ways to interpret what happens within the story.
For example, the Count in the story has 3 wishes relating to the girl that he wishes to have...
1."I wish I had a girl as white as snow"
2."I wish I had a girl as red as blood"
3."I wish I had a girl as black as that bird's feather"
These three wishes all have one thing in common and that is that he is using colours to describe this desired girl and at no point does he describe her personality. This could be suggesting that men only desire women for their appearance.
It could be interpreted that his desire for 'a girl as white as snow' is a desire for innocence and virginity. This contrasts to the Countess as she is dressed all in black, which suggests that she is not pure and is perhaps a bad or sinful character?
His desire for a 'a girl as red as blood' may also be alluding to the desire for a virgin as it could be interpreted as being likened to the breaking of the hymen in sex, this view can be supported the image of "a hole in the snow; this hole is filled with blood".
The Count's third wish is for 'a girl as black as that bird's feather'. This could be seen to be foreshadowing her death as black is stereotypically the colour of death and a raven, the 'bird' to which he refers, is also a symbol of death. However, it could also be seen as a link to the countess as she is dressed all in black, with black fox furs and black boots, perhaps suggesting that he is not satisfied with her as he desires something black though he already has something black.
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