snow child

• Wish i had a girl as white as snow ... as red as blood ... as black as that bird’s feather - snow child


  By allowing the Count to create the “child of his desire” Carter’s ‘Snow White’ counterpart becomes the helpless product of his masculine sexual dominance. 
• As soon as he completed his desire, there she stood beside the road, white skin, red mouth, black hair and stark naked - snow child
• she was the child of his desire and the Countess hated her - snow child
• The Count lifted her up and sat her in front of him on his saddle - snow child
• The Countess dropped her glove in the snow and told the girl to get down to look for it; ... but the Count said: “I’ll buy you new gloves.” At that, the furs sprang off the Countess’s shoulders and twined round the naked girl. - snow child


  The Countess belongs to the Count and is only significant due to him. He buys the clothes she wears and she is dictated by him.
• Then the Countess threw her diamond brooch through the ice of a frozen pond: “Dive in and fetch it for me,” ... Then her boots leapt off the Countess’s feet and on to the girl’s legs - snow child


  This situation is representative of the power of the Count’s attention. The clothes of the Countess represent civilisation, contrasting the nakedness of the Snow Child.
• Now the Countess was bare as a bone and the girl furred and booted; the Count felt sorry for his wife.


  as the Count dresses and undresses the Countess, he bestows and withdraws her cultural status. By taking the attention of the Count away from her, the Snow Child strips the Countess of her social powers.
• Weeping, the Count got off his horse, unfastened his breeches and thrust his virile member into the dead girl - snow child
• Then the girl began to melt. Soon there was nothing left of her - snow child
• Now the Countess had all her clothes on again. With her long hand, she stroked her furs. The Count picked up the rose, bowed and handed it to his wife - snow child


  The Countess has had her cultural status returned to her via the affections of the Count. Through the return of her clothes, which represent the attention and riches of the Count, and the renewal of her title as “his wife”, she has taken back her status as his partner.
• when she touched it, she dropped it. “It bites!” she said. - snow child


  The fact that the rose bites the Countess is also very important. The bite of the rose is revenge for her part in the death of the girl and her passive nature against the brutality of her husband. Her passive nature is damaging (and unlike the representation of a strong woman Carter describes), and therefore, hurts her in the process.