Al-Omari 1

Sally Al-Omari
Professor Greg McClure
Writing 39B
7 November 2015
Snow, Glass, Apples: A Twisted Tale
In Neil Gaimans, Snow, Glass, Apples, the famous fairy tale of Snow White is retold in a
different point of view that transforms the child-friendly tale into a horror story. In the original
tale, Snow White is viewed as a helpless young princess who is tormented by her jealous
stepmother. Gaimans version switches the roles of these two characters to create a plot twist so
that the stepmother, or Queen, is now the heroine who is battling her evil stepdaughter in order to
protect her kingdom. Gaimans use of repetitive phrases, figurative language, and emphasis on
diction to describe the attributes of the characters and their motives within the story, transforms
the charming Snow White that the audience is familiar with into a character who now possesses
monstrous qualities. The author also uses repetitive symbols such as Snow, Glass, and Apples, to
represent the theme of life and death throughout the story. The setting and characters are
manipulated so that the story is more eerie, and the targeted audience is changed as the aspects of
incest, prostitution, pedophilia and necrophilia are evident in detailed scenes. The Queens
contribution to save her kingdom from her evil stepdaughter redefines the conformed societal
convention of the late twentieth century regarding girls and their place in society and stresses the
importance of persevering during lifes obstacles.
Gaimans shift in point of view gives the audience a different perspective on what the
Queen experiences and achieves this through making her the narrator of the story. This gives the
audience insight into the Queens thoughts, which influences the readers elicited emotions.

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According to The Nature of Horror by Nol Carroll, a distinguished professor of philosophy at
the New York Graduate Center, Horror appears to be one of those genres in which, ideally, the
emotive responses of the audience run parallel to the emotions of the characters (Carroll 52). In
order to fulfill the horror genre, Gaiman strives to create fear in the reader by first creating fear
in the Queen. The Queen goes as far as having a smith forge iron bars across her windows in
order to avoid her evil stepdaughter, Snow White, who has the inevitable ability to destroy the
kingdom that she is left in charge of after the King is killed. Snow White is a monster who is an
Extraordinary character in an ordinary world, whereas in fairy tales and the like the monster is
an ordinary character in an extraordinary world (Carroll 52). This transforms the fairy tale into a
horror story where the Queens effort to save her Kingdom makes her the heroine of the story
and switches the traditional role of women during the time that this version was published.
Gaiman uses figurative language to reveal Snow Whites threatening and impure
qualities that reveal her unnatural and vampiric nature. Snow White is described as having Eyes
(that) were black as coal, black as her hair; her lips were redder than blood (Gaiman). This
metaphoric description is similar to the original tale, but the fact that it is later mentioned that her
teeth were yellow and sharp foreshadows the scene that reveals Snow Whites monstrous
qualities. After she drew blood from the Queen, the scar healed abnormally fast, which is a
repetitive occurrence in the story. The Queen states that, [Snow Whites] chest gaped, suddenly,
open and bloodless. She licked her heart, once, as the blood ran over her hands, and she pushed
the heart deep into her breast. I saw her close the flesh of her breast once more. I saw the purple
scar begin to fade (Gaiman). With this chilling description, it is hard for the audience to view
Snow White as the innocent and charming princess that they are used to. The fact that her heart
continued to beat and pulse after it had been cut out is reveals her impure qualities. The audience

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is exposed to a vampiric and disgusting princess which is intended to evoke fear in the reader. It
is unnatural for scars to heal that fast on any normal human being. The threatening tone and
descriptive words is Gaimans way of creating a sense of uneasiness in the reader because it is an
unexpected and monstrous description of Snow White.
Gaiman uses repetitive symbols throughout the story to convey the theme of life and
death. The title serves as a means of the symbol itself. Snow, Glass, and Apples each play a
critical role throughout the plot. Snow is white in color and is associated with safety and
cleanliness, positive connotations as opposed to the color black which represents evil. It is ironic
that in the story, snow if followed by death. The Queen states that, Winter is the time of hunger,
of snow, and of death, (Gaiman) and proceeds to explain the tradition of rubbing goose-fat into
the skin of the pig that they roast for a feast. At the end of the story, the Queen is rubbed in
goose-fat and burned alive just as the pig would be prepared. Despite the chaos, she mentions
that she shall think instead of the snowflake on [Snow Whites] cheek (Gaiman). The author
also mentions snow a few more times throughout the story and with each mention the snow
foreshadows death. When Snow White returns to the castle to seek revenge upon her stepmother,
a snowflake had landed on her white cheek, and remained there without melting. This serves as
evidence to the audience that the princess is indeed impure and dead. It is known that when
someones heart is unable to pump blood throughout the body, they die and body temperature
drops. By the snowflake not melting, it reveals Snow Whites vampiric nature. The Queen talks
about snow falling and covering Snow Whites tiny body that laid in the forest and as the Queen
prepared the poisonous apples to give to her stepdaughter, the first tiny flakes of snow of the
year fell slowly onto [her] skin, and onto the apples, and onto the blood (Gaiman). That is not
the first time apples are mentioned. During her description of the roasting of the pig, the Queen

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mentions that the pig it is stuffed with autumns apples, and it was what she fed the princess
before she proceeded to bite her and draw blood. The Queen is known for her ability to foresee
fragments of events through her reflection, using glass, or a mirror. She takes advantage of her
ability to see the future, as she sets out to save her Kingdom. At the end, before she is killed, the
Queen states that when Snow White looked at her, she saw herself reflected in her eyes for a
moment. Snow, Glass, and Apples are repetitive and meaningful symbols that define the theme
of life and death.
The authors emphasis on diction draws the readers attention to the many character
flaws that make the tale twisted. Throughout the story, acts of incest, prostitution, pedophilia and
necrophilia are revealed which ultimately alters the targeted audience. The scene where the
prince and Queen have a sexual and pedophilic encounter is very detailed and engages the reader
who is a witness to an affair that is not known by all the characters, including Snow White. The
Queen states that, [The prince] told me not to move, and to breathe as little as possible. He
implored me to say nothing. He spread my legs apart. It was then he entered me (Gaiman). This
scene involving a sexual encounter between an older woman and a younger man is not viewed as
normal in todays society, and is disturbing. This scene alters the targeted audience since it makes
the tale no longer suitable for young children. Another scene that uses descriptive wording
involves the young Snow White having a sexual encounter with a monk. After tossing her a coin
in exchange for sexual favors, [Snow White] straddled him, and she fed. As she did so a thin
blackish liquid began to dribble from between her legs (Gaiman). This scene not only reveals
an act of prostitution, but also exposes the reader to the impure and threatening qualities that
Snow White possesses. Nol Carroll states that, Art-horror requires evaluation in both terms of
threat and disgust (Carroll 55). When the Queen discovers scars on the late Kings male

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member, she discovers that Snow White had fed upon her own father and is the reason he
passed away. The disturbing reality of an incest encounter between the king and his own
daughter subverts the expectations of the reader. The act of necrophilia is discussed as the Queen
imagines the prince having a sexual encounter with the dead body of her stepdaughter that was
left in the dark forest. The Queen wonders if Her eyes slowly opened as he pounded into her
cold body; did her mouth open, those red lips part, those sharp yellow teeth close on his swarthy
neck (Gaiman). Snow Whites physical characteristics as described by the Queen also add to the
threatening and impure qualities that make Snow White a monster and antagonist within the
story.
The setting and characters of Snow, Glass, Apples, is similar to that of the original but it
they are both manipulated to form a more eerie plot. The castle is viewed as a dangerous place
since the queen placed iron bars on her windows in order to protect herself from her monstrous
stepdaughter. Gaiman states that outlaws, robbers, and wolves live in the dark forest that borders
the kingdom (Gaiman). That is why the Queen decided to leave the body of the evil Snow White
in the forest. In the original tale, the seven dwarfs were viewed as friendly and took care of the
princess. In Gaimans version, the seven dwarfs were viewed by the Queen as Ugly, misshapen,
hairy little men (Gaiman) who cared for the evil Snow White. The role of the prince is even
altered as he is sexually attracted to both the protagonist and antagonist within the story. Nol
Carroll states in The Nature of Horror, that Many monsters of the horror genre are interstitial
and/or contradictory in terms of being both living and dead: [including] vampires (Carroll 55).
This description serves as evidence that Snow White is herself a vampiric monster who is able to
be alive without her heart beating inside he chest. It is well known to the audience that the heart
is a vital organ in the body, and the fact that the character in the story is able to survive without

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one is unnatural. This makes her satisfy the horror genres conventions of what a monster is.
Gaimans twist on the role of the characters and the setting makes the story more suspenseful and
unexpected which contributes to the horror aspect of his story.
The Queens role as a prominent leader in her kingdom and her efforts of keeping the
Spring Fair lively, creates a feminist centered storyline that leaves a message to never give up
despite the hardships that life throws at you. When Gaimans version was published in 1994, the
United States was going through a third-wave feminism phase that focused more on individual
identity rather than laws and the political process, in order to change stereotypes against the
portrayal of women. Karen Rowe, an American literary critic and a professor of English at the
University of California, Los Angeles, states in Feminism and Fairy Tales, that Subconsciously
women may transfer from fairy tales into real life cultural norms which exalt passivity,
dependency, and self-sacrifice as a females cardinal virtues (Rowe 209). When the King passes
away, and the power is now in the hands of the Queen, she uses her wise qualities to take it
upon herself to make the forest safe once more from her evil stepdaughter (Gaiman). This role of
a woman being a prominent leader is not something the readers in the 1990s were used to, so the
story once again subverts the audiences expectations. Without the help of others, the Queen sets
out to defeat her monstrous stepdaughter and throughout the story, she risks her life in order to
save her kingdom. In the end she is not successful. Snow White comes back to the castle with the
prince to retrieve her heart and seeks revenge upon her stepmother. During her public execution
the Queen states, I will not scream. I will not give them that satisfaction. They will have my
body, but my soul and my story are my own, and will die with me (Gaiman). Despite her
unsuccessful battle, the Queen remains strong until the end of her independent fight against the
monstrous Snow White and demonstrates the importance of not giving up on a goal despite lifes

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hardships.

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Works Cited
Carroll, Nol. "The Nature of Horror." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 46, No.
1. (Autumn, 1987), pp. 51-59
Gaiman, Neil. "Snow, Glass, Apples." The Dreaming. N.p., 10 Oct. 1999. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
Rowe, Karen E. "Feminism and Fairy Tales." Dont Bet on the Prince (1986): n. pag. Web. 2
Nov. 2015. <http://www.tusculum.edu/faculty/home/smorton/womenslit/feminism.pdf>.