Silent Snow, Secret Snow

by Conrad Aiken

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Sanity and Insanity

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In "Silent Snow, Secret Snow," sanity is described as the ability to manage daily responsibilities and interact with others. In contrast, insanity is marked by a disconnect from routine experiences and a failure to communicate effectively. Deirdre’s eagerness when answering Mrs. Buell's geography question highlights her mental stability. The globe used in Mrs. Buell's lesson represents the real world, where people tend to become more social as they mature. On the other hand, Paul’s desire to retreat from reality and lose himself in the comforting snow indicates his increasingly abnormal behavior.

Truth and Falsehood

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In "Silent Snow, Secret Snow," sanity is depicted as the capacity to distinguish between reality and illusion. Paul's parents are concerned that he is losing touch with his authentic self. The doctor investigates the reality of Paul's altered condition, while Mrs. Buell shares important truths about the world with her students. Deirdre expresses her sincere affection for Paul with a smile. Conversely, insanity in the story is linked to deception. Paul battles to conceal his awareness of the snow.

Love and Hatred

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Love encompasses appreciating, treasuring, and voluntarily assuming responsibility for another person. It can also apply to entities or things, such as a career, a home, or a pet. Paul had a deep love for his parents, but his mental decline gradually wiped out these emotions, ultimately causing him to turn away from his mother. In contrast, hatred is the antithesis of love. It shuts down relationships instead of fostering them and is fueled by distrust and selfishness. Hatred severs the ties that unite individuals and, in its fervor, indicates a disruption of the mind.

Community and Alienation

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Community involves the intentional sharing of values and possessions. In "Silent Snow, Secret Snow," the school classroom and family home symbolize community. Deirdre attempts to strengthen her connection with Paul by expressing her admiration when he answers a question correctly. Alienation, on the other hand, is the detachment from these communal ties. For Paul, this alienation happens when the snow alters his view of the world and eventually obliterates it.

Psychological Estrangement

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Conrad Aiken's "Silent Snow, Secret Snow" shares a thematic kinship with Willa Cather's "Paul's Case," as both delve into the emotional and psychological alienation of young boys from the tangible world around them. In Aiken's narrative, the protagonist's gradual retreat into a snow-dominated fantasy realm can be interpreted not merely as a metaphor for a death wish but more compellingly as a depiction of schizophrenic detachment. This descent into an internal fantasy world reflects a deep psychological estrangement, inviting critical analysis through a Freudian lens, given Aiken's well-documented fascination with Sigmund Freud's theories.

The narrative of "Silent Snow, Secret Snow" echoes the conflict between Paul and his father in Cather's story, a dynamic reminiscent of the Oedipal complex. This connection is underscored by the detail of Paul reading from Sophocles’ Oidipous epi Kolni, further anchoring the story in Freudian psychoanalysis. Aiken's personal history adds another layer of depth to this interpretation. At the tender age of eleven, Aiken was a witness to the tragic events of his father's violent actions, where his father killed his mother and then took his own life. This traumatic experience inevitably colors the psychological undercurrents in Aiken's storytelling, enhancing its poignancy and complexity.

Two Different Worlds

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The narrative transcends a mere examination of psychological illness, delving into the literary exploration of dual realities. Aiken, blending his literary and psychological expertise, weaves a rich tapestry around the theme of "two different worlds," skillfully underscored by geographical and exploratory imagery. The protagonist, Paul, juggles a dual existence between a "public life" and a "secret life." He remains conscious of the delicate equilibrium required to...

(This entire section contains 217 words.)

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navigate these worlds. His mother voices her concern over his detachment into this alternate realm, a concern that gains weight as Paul becomes increasingly enveloped by it.

As the narrative unfolds, the thickening snow symbolizes the narrowing of Paul's "audible compass of the world," with the snow world increasingly encroaching upon his reality. This shift is poignantly illustrated during Paul's walk home, where he observes egg-shaped stones that seem perched in a precarious "act of balance." The metaphor serves as a harbinger of Paul's impending surrender to the snow world—a new reality he is both compelled and eager to explore. The tension between these worlds crescendos, leading to Paul's eventual embrace of the snow world as his primary realm of existence. Aiken’s portrayal of Paul’s journey is a masterful blend of psychological insight and literary finesse, offering readers a profound reflection on the allure and danger of escapism.

Exploration and Disappointment

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Aiken’s narrative is woven with allusions to legendary explorers such as Robert Edwin Peary, Robert Falcon Scott, Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, Christopher Columbus, and Henry Hudson. These historical figures serve as metaphors for the story's themes of exploration and the inherent disappointments that can accompany such endeavors. For instance, Scott successfully reached the South Pole, yet his triumph was overshadowed by tragedy as he perished on the return journey. Similarly, Hudson’s quest for the Northwest Passage to the Orient—a pursuit marked by the allure of the unknown and the exotic—ended not in discovery but in disillusionment, as Paul notes Hudson’s disappointment.

The parallel between these grand voyages and the story’s inner journey underscores a poignant truth: explorations that promise adventure and discovery often culminate in unforeseen outcomes, whether they be dead ends or demise. This theme of exploration is further emphasized through the geography lesson given by Miss Buell, who transitions from discussing the equator to the North Pole, described as the "land of perpetual snow." This shift mirrors the story’s deeper exploration into the psyche, where the promise of new worlds is perpetually shadowed by the specter of disappointment.

Journey and Homecoming

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Paul's adventure unfolds as an odyssey that transcends the mere physical journey towards his parents' home. Instead, it leads him to a profound internal destination, a place that resonates with the allure of a different kind of home. This voyage into the realm of snow truly commences within the confines of his classroom, where he finds himself metaphorically adrift. There, like a seasoned captain navigating the seas, he establishes his bearings through an unconventional yet deeply personal navigation system—the "constellation of freckles" on the neck of his classmate, Deidre. These freckles become his guiding stars, a fixed point in a swirling sea of uncertainty by which he can gauge his path. When the classroom session concludes, his journey continues as he rises to follow Deidre. This act symbolizes not just a physical movement but an intentional stride deeper into the snow-laden world he longs for. Paul's odyssey, therefore, is marked by a quest for connection and meaning, an exploration of an inner landscape where the tangible world of the classroom begins to blur with the ethereal snow world that beckons him forward.

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