In reading the four tales, there was one tale that had an aspect that I really liked, that I think ties in with how we are looking at the body in our readings. In Little Snow White, it starts,
"Once upon a time in the
middle of winter, when the flakes of snow were falling like feathers from the
sky, a queen sat at a window sewing, and the frame of the window was made of
black ebony. And whilst she was sewing and looking out of the window at the
snow, she pricked her finger with the needle, and three drops of blood fell
upon the snow. And the red looked pretty
upon the white snow, and she thought to herself, "Would that I had a child
as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood of the window-frame"
Later, when we learn that the Queen gave birth to a daughter, we also learn that her wish cam true. It said,
"Soon after that she had a
little daughter, who was as white as snow, and as red as blood, and her hair
was as black as ebony; and she was therefore called Little Snow-white."
When I read this tale, I just really liked how the description of colors was used so vividly. A fantastic image of what Little Snow White physically looks like is created with the use of these quotations and colors. The red looked pretty upon the white of the snow, so we know that Little Snow White's skin is very white, but that it is red as blood, so I image her cheeks with little natural blushes of red.. Because the red looked pretty on the white snow, we should assume that the red in Little Snow White's skin added to her beauty.
I just liked the choice in language for this section of the tale. The connections with what the Queen was seeing in the physical body of the world around her and how the same use of color was used to create beauty in the physical appearance of the girl was just nice to read for me. I also really liked how they chose to not only write that the wood of the window frame and her hair was black, it was black ebony, it just seems to give the description a strong affect, and I really liked it.
-Jessica Mitchell
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