Katherine Tang, Grimm's Snow White

After reading the Grimm's version of Snow White, or Little Snow White, what immediately stood out to me was the sharp division between the portrayal of the male and female characters, suggesting of conformist gender roles. The story had only two female characters, Snow White and the evil queen who was her stepmother (disregarding Snow White’s birth mother who wasn’t given any more than a mention). Snow White was portrayed within the story as a “poor child” who couldn’t defend herself and could only receive pity from males who were either entranced by her beauty (the huntsman, the dwarfs, and the Prince) or domesticated her (the dwarfs). It was also frustrating how easily she was tempted by the Queen with the laces, comb, and apple, each objects that were beautiful and effective in luring the girl, emphasizing Snow White’s own vanity. (Not to mention how every time she was nearly killed by the Queen with one of the three temptations, either the dwarfs or the Prince had to save her). The other female in the story, the queen, was so brainwashed by the desire for beauty and her jealously toward Snow White that she attempted relentlessly to kill her. She was never shown as anything more than vain and obsessed with the approval of males (the Looking-Glass). Sure, the story’s main characters were two females, but they were portrayed as superficial and either extremely weak or impossibly malicious due to jealously. Meanwhile, the males were shown as “heroes” in a drastic contrast, as the story further attempts to establish the societal norms based on gender.

Beyond that, I understand that Snow White, simply based on her namesake, seemed to be preserved as a maiden within the story, as white is symbolic of maidenhood. Viewing the dwarfs within the story as a symbol of Snow White’s phase in pre-pubescence was an intriguing, although no less disconcerting, interpretation that I never would’ve picked up from watching the Snow White movie as a kid. However, Snow White’s youth and young age disturbed me throughout the story. They mention her age once, specifying that she was forced out of the home when she only seven (!!!), but the girl was over-sexualized throughout the tale, even though she must have been extremely young, accentuated as she is called “Little Snow White” in the title of the fairytale. 

Many things bothered me with the ending, including how the dwarfs put Snow White’s body in a transparent coffin so that she could “be seen from all sides”, which was not only SUPER CREEPY but also effectively objectified her as nothing more than someone of beauty used for male approval. When the Prince saw her body, which was dead, by the way, he had the AUDACITY to say he would “‘honour and prize her as [his] dearest possession’,” once again suppressing women as objects (plus she was DEAD... gross!). 

This version of the fairytale was published in 1884, and it is clear that there are many aspects that clash with my 21st century influenced thinking. The current perception of fairytales as magical and aimed for children was clearly not the case in the 19th century, as even the the painful death of the wicked Queen was particularly gruesome, and not the kind of ending “happy-ending” appropriate for children.