Metaphor of \"Snow\" in Julia

¶ … metaphor of "Snow" in Julia Alvarez's tale of the same name

It has been observed that Eskimos have many words for snow, given the significance of the substance in their environment and in their culture. At the beginning of Julia Alvarez's story on "Snow," however, the young, immigrant protagonist Yolanda does not even know what snow is, since it did not exist in her warm, home country. As Yolanda becomes better acquainted with American words, her misunderstandings of what the foreign word and substance "snow" means becomes a metaphor for the girl's growing understanding of what living in America means. Snow is a metaphor for the misguided teaching in America, where even the innocent mind of a child and the innocent substance of snow becomes corrupted by fear and politics.

At the beginning of "Snow," Yolanda begins to learn the English language, and to learn that there are not only different words in English for the words of her home country, but that there are completely new things in America that did not exist in her previous life. For example, "Laundromats" and "cornflakes" did not exist where she lived before, so learning about English means learning about different ways of living in the world, from doing laundry to eating breakfast. It also means learning about the atomic bomb, and the radioactive fallout called snow.

So not all of Yolanda's American English lessons are so easy and fun as eating cornflakes. Her teacher, eager to teach the students about the dangers of the world, begins one lesson by drawing a mushroom cloud on the blackboard. He makes all of the students afraid of the prospect of being blown up during an attack. Yolanda and her classmates must hide under their desks during frequent air raids. Every time Yolanda turns on the television, she hears about the terrifying prospect of the bomb. America, during the time when the short story is set, was gripped by the Cold War and the fears instigated by the Cuban Missile Crisis. Yolanda, a young girl, is just coming to terms with her existence in the world and her new nation. Being American, learning English, and atomic power are all intertwined in her impressionable mind.

The impact of American education is not positive upon Yolanda's development, although she does learn English. Along with learning English, she learns to be afraid. Every time there is an air raid Yolanda contemplates her own death, her "hair falling out" from radiation, or the bones in her arms growing soft, or her whole body evaporating into mist, like the snow that will accompany an attack.

When Yolanda first sees snow, it is not a happy, wondrous sight. She is terrified that the United States is being attacked. She does not know that snow can be frozen rain, or something to play in, because her teachers have been so intent upon preparing her for an atomic attack. She misunderstands not just the word "snow" but also what snow can mean in different contexts. Learning English and learning about the bomb are fused in Yolanda's mind, so she cannot see snow in an innocent way, as an American child should see snow.