Liu 1

Jiani (Anny) Liu

27382828
Writing 39B
24 Oct 2016
RAdraft
Originallyreleasedin1994,Snow,Glass,ApplesisastorywrittenbyNeilGaiman,basedon
theBrotherGrimmsclassicalchildrenstale,SnowWhiteandTheSevenDwarfs.Althoughthe
mainplotgoessimilarlytotheoriginalSnowWhitestory,Snow,Glass,Applestellsthestoryin
atotaldifferentperspective.InsteadofSnowWhite,thestoryisnarratedfromtheviewofher
stepmother,theQueen,whoareusuallyseenastheevilvillainofthestory.Inthestory,Gaiman
depictstheQueenasaheroinewhowantstosaveherkingdomfromacoldbloodedmonster,not
theevilwitchwhoisjealousoftheSnowWhitesbeauty;atthesametime,SnowWhiteisno
longerthekind,lovelyprincesswithawarmheart,butabloodthirstymonsterwhokilledher
ownfatherasherprey.Snow,Glass,Apples,therefore,istheproductoftwogenres:itcontains
traitsfrombothfairytaleandhorrorvampirestory.Byconstantlyinterweavingtheworldof
fairytaleandtheworldofhorrortogether,NeilGaimancreatesasuccessfularthorrorworkthat
leadshisreaderstoasenseofcategoricalinterstitiality,ananxietyaboutambiguousness,with
themanipulationoverlanguageinacertainway.Histechniquecanbeseenintwodimension:
thedescriptionlanguageheuses,theSnowWhitefigureheportrays.
InSnow,Glass,Apples,NeilGaimanusesalargeamountofdescriptionlanguagethatusually
showsupinfairytales,todescriptahorrorworldwithvampirism,incest,pedophiliaand
necrophilia.Fairytales,whichareoriginallydesignedforchildren,tendtochoosevividand
simplelanguagetodepictitscharactersanditsenvironment.Forexample,thereisoneparagraph

Liu 2
inthestory:Ididnoteatit:Ihungitfromthebeamsabovemybed,placeditonalengthof
twinethatIstrungwithrowanberries,orangeredasarobinsbreast;andwithbulbsofgarlic.
Rowanberries,orangeredasarobinsbreastisanoutstandinginstanceforconventional
rhetoricinchildrensstory,withbeautifulnaturalobjects(likefruitandflowers)anddetailed
colordescription.Fromthisparagraph,itisobviousthatthelanguageNeilGaimanchoosesis
straightforwardandhighlypicturesquethatleadshisreaderstoconnecthisstorywithtraditional
fairytalelandwhichisvividandcolorful.Asamatteroffact,however,theserowanberriesare
strungwithSnowWhitesfreshheartwhichcontinuedtobeatandpulseafterithadbeencut
out.Asaresult,thislanguagetechniquealsoincreasestheamountofanxietyreadersfeelwhen
theyseethetruthofthestoryworld,bysuddenlytransferringtheirexpectationofachildren
storyintoanarthorror.Theboundarybetweenfairytaleandhorrorstorynolongerexistsin
Snow,Glass,Apples;everythingisambiguousandimpossibletobedefined.Bybuildingahorror
worldoverfairytalerhetoric,NeilGaimancreateasenseofuncertaintyforhisreaderthatrise
theirfeartoanewlevel.
ThefigureofSnowWhitehasatwosidednatureaswell.Ontheonehand,SnowWhitestill
followssomeconventionsoffairytaleprincess.InSnowWhiteandTheSevenDwarfs,especially,
theoriginalSnowWhiteareportrayedasskinwhiteassnow,lipsredasblood,andhairblack
asebony.Accordingly,theSnowWhiteofSnow,Glass,Applesispresentedashereyeswere
blackascoal,blackasherhair;herlipswereredderthanblood."However,inthenextsentence,
theQueensawthatHerteethseemedsharp,eventhen,inthelamplight.Underherclassical
SnowWhiteappearance,thisSnowWhitehassharp,yellowteeththatonlybelongstovampires.
AccordingtoTheNatureofHorrorwrittenbyNolCarroll,whoisoneofthemostoutstanding

Liu 3
contemporaryphilosophersinphilosophyofart,monsterinarthorrorshouldbeanextraordinary
characterinanordinaryworld.Also,horrormonstershouldbeboththreateningandimpure.The
SnowWhiteinNeilGaimansstorymeetsbothoftheconditions.Althoughthestoryhappensin
amagicallandwithwitches,SnowWhiteisyetanextraordinarymonster;heractofdrinking
bloodisstillabnormal.WhentheQueen,whoshouldbearepresentationofthenormalcyinthe
storywasfirstattackedbySnowWhite,shebegantoshriek,frompainandfromsurprise.
Therefore,readerscandeducethatSnowWhiteistheeerieandunacceptableoneinthestory
world.ThethreatandimpurenessSnowWhitecreatesarealsoundeniable.Inthetext,thereis
directevidenceforhowscarysheisfromtheQueensview:Ihadto,althoughsheterrified
me.Herimpurenesscanbeseeninthisparagraph:Herfingernailsmusthavebeenassharpas
glass:sheopenedherbreastwiththem,runningthemoverthepurplescar.Herchestgaped,
suddenly,openandbloodless.Shelickedherheart,once,asthebloodranoverherhands,and
shepushedtheheartdeepintoherbreast.Theimageofcutonesbloodlesschestopenwith
nailsandputaheartincandoubtlesslycreatedisgustingfeelingsforreaders.Therefore,besides
thefactshehasthesamebackgroundandappearanceofafairytaleprincess,SnowWhitein
Snow,Glass,Applesisacreepymonsteratthesametime.Consequently,thepositionofSnow
WhiteinNeilGaimansstoryisalsocrossgenred,leavingequivocalnessforitsreaders.
Insummary,Snow,Glass,Applesisanarthorrorworkbaseonelementsfromtwodifferent
genres:horrorandfairytale.Inthisstory,thefearNeilGaimancreatesforhisaudienceisnot
onlyforthemonsteritself,butalsoasenseofambiguousnessbecauseofcategorical
interstitiality.Directfrightmaybeterrifying;butambiguousnesscreatesadifferentkindof
scarinessaswell.

Liu 4

CitationList
NoelCarroll."TheNatureofHorror."TheJournalofAestheticsandArtCriticism46.1(1987):
5159.Web.