by Heidi Webb
The Brothers Grimm version of “Little Snow White” and Helen Oyeyemi’s novel Boy, Snow, Bird focus on the tale of Snow White and her stepmother; the Brothers Grimm version of “Snow White” tells one of the best-known tellings of the tale, whereas Boy, Snow, Bird is a contemporary novel set in the 50s and 60s in Massachusetts. Both versions of the “Snow White” fairy tale contain family relations and intricacies with the mirror and Oyeyemi uses both effectively in her modern version.
To begin with, “Little Snow White” and Boy, Snow, Bird comes with the relationships amongst the family that differ from and unite with each telling. The stepmother marries the father after the death of his first wife. As fate would have the story told, the father helps the stepmother by doing nothing in the Brothers Grimm tale, whereas in Oyeyemi’s contemporary adaptation the he helps the stepmother, Boy, against his own daughter, Snow. In contrast, the father, Arturo Whitman in Oyeyemi’s tale, does not demand for the return of his girl from where she is sent to live with relatives. (143-144) In each version, Christine Shojaei Kawan’s theme from “A Brief Literary History of Snow White” demonstrates a “double theme of love and hatred” between Snow White and the stepmother.
The hate appears as the stepmother hating Snow White for her beauty in the Brothers Grimm tale. (Kawan, 325) As for the Oyeyemi text, it stems from Snow Whitman wishing for a mother (Oyeyemi, 19) but also why Boy sends Snow away, to protect how the new child, Bird, is viewed by society. (Oyeyemi, 143) When the love comes into play, the end of Oyeyemi’s tale shows how much the stepmother does want Snow’s affection, driving the adult Snow to make up with her. In the Grimm’s version, this love can be interpreted as twisted: a jealous love of Snow White’s beauty and wanting the beauty for her own, which is symbolized by the desire for Snow White’s heart.
“Little Snow White” and Boy, Snow, Bird also differ most notably with the novel beginning with the stepmother’s perspective. In fact, most of the novel comes from the view of the stepmother, who Oyeyemi calls Boy, contrasting with the distant point of view of the Brothers Grimm’s tale. Oyeyemi’s telling is actually more reminiscent of a version of Snow White older than the Brother’s Grimm tale. This older version is Johann Karl August Musäus’ Richilde (Richilde in German), published in 1782. As in Richilde, Oyeyemi begins with the origin of the stepmother, the woman believed to be the villain, and also makes the stepmother the main character. (Kawan, 331; Oyeyemi, 3) This comes in contrast with the Brothers Grimm tale following the path of Snow White along with the stepmother.
Another striking similarity yet with differences is how both Oyeyemi and the Brothers Grimm change the stepmother from each of their original sources. The original for Oyeyemi is the Brothers Grimm “Little Snow White” and her change showed more depth in the stepmother, allowing for her to be understood by society as protecting her own child and thus sending her stepdaughter away. (Oyeyemi, 143-144) As for the Brothers Grimm, “Little Snow White” was changed from their source and their 1st through 4th editions of Kinder- und Haus- Märchen with the biological mother to the use of the stepmother in the 5th edition. (Kawan, 335)
Thirdly, a common view between Oyeyemi’s tale and the opinion of Jacob Grimm is of Snow Whitman and Snow White being an Unglückskind, a child of ill luck and becoming an omen. Jacob Grimm found the color scheme of Snow White to be foreboding as she was white as snow, red as blood, and black as ravens, creating an omen of death and ill health. (Kawan, 335) In the Grimm tale, the stepmother queen views Snow White as a threat to being who is the most beautiful in the land. As for in Boy, Snow, Bird, Snow Whitman puts Boy at unease many times and as the tale progressed the omen would speak for both the power of mirrors and family relations. Tension between Boy and Snow settled down eventually, but Boy never let her guard down. For example, when she, the father, and Snow went on a vacation, it was early morning in the hotel room: “Snow was right there, after all. And she wasn’t sleeping. She didn’t give herself away even for a second, but that kid [Snow] was keeping tabs. I [Boy] knew and she knew.” (Oyeyemi, 103)
Whereas Shuli Barzilai’s “Reading ‘Snow White’: The Mother’s Story” states that “Snow White” as told by the Brothers Grimm is “the daughter’s story” and tells its tale from what happens to Snow White (Barzilai, 522-523), Oyeyemi shifts the focus of the tale off of Snow White and onto the stepmother to illustrate how and why the stepmother acts in such a manner. From this approach, Boy never truly comes across as the “wicked stepmother” and acts within reason to protect her offspring, who turns out to be “colored” due to the true ancestry of the Whitman family: African Americans from Louisiana. (Oyeyemi, 132)
Barzilai also takes notice of how “[h]ate rather than love becomes the keynote of” the relationship between the Queen and Snow White for, as the tale ends, the Queen is drastically punished for what crime she has committed against the young princess. (Barzilai, 534) Boy, on the other hand, amends her relationship with Snow in Oyeyemi’s tale by letting Snow slap her “so hard my ears rang”. (Oyeyemi, 284) Also in contrast to the Grimm’s tale, Snow is treated like Boy at the beginning, with unwanted attention that others believe to be flattery. Both are beauties of their own accord with Boy having an Eastern European appearance and Snow being just as beautiful as Snow White. (Oyeyemi, 3 and 77 respectively)
For the last distinctive difference between the Brothers Grimm tale and Oyeyemi’s novel, a look at the revival of Snow White/Whitman comes to play. The Brothers Grimm narrate Snow White having “hardly had … a bit of it in her mouth than she fell down dead”, but her appearance never changed to reflect her death and seemed to be only a trancelike slumber. Departing from this realm of magic, Oyeyemi makes the revival of Snow more realistic and less magical by having the revival portrayed as an event any person can relate to; Snow Whitman merely is coming to visit with her Aunt and Uncle and have Thanksgiving dinner with her family. (Oyeyemi, 241) The ability of the arrival to come from this direction comes out of how contemporary literature changes for the audience of its time and killing the stepdaughter is not probable as stated by Vanessa Joosen in “Disenchanting the Fairy Tale: Retellings of ‘Snow White’ between Magic and Realism”. (Joosen, 229)
Playing an important part of the disenchanting yet illusionary aspect of Oyeyemi’s novel, mirrors play as important a roll as in the Brothers Grimm tale. Like other modern fairy tale adaptations, Oyeyemi uses “realism” to create and rationalize the magic behind the mirror and also to demonstrate relationships. (Joosen, 229) Realism, in this case, is explained by Joosen as anything that can be explained by empirical science, which much in Oyeyemi’s novel can be despite the mystic, uncertainty set up by the mirrors.
To begin with, however, both the fairy tale and the novel begin in a sense of realism. The fairy tale comes through as a woman wishing for a child to be born beautiful and allows for the assumption that the mother will look much like the daughter, as genetics will have it. (Joosen, 231) In regards to Boy, Snow, Bird, it is probable and possible that looking in a mirror for Boy was an escape from the life of abuse she suffered from her home life and her school life. (Oyeyemi, 3-4) The mirror comes to mean more than that, however, as demonstrated by what Oyeyemi wrote:
To begin with, “Little Snow White” and Boy, Snow, Bird comes with the relationships amongst the family that differ from and unite with each telling. The stepmother marries the father after the death of his first wife. As fate would have the story told, the father helps the stepmother by doing nothing in the Brothers Grimm tale, whereas in Oyeyemi’s contemporary adaptation the he helps the stepmother, Boy, against his own daughter, Snow. In contrast, the father, Arturo Whitman in Oyeyemi’s tale, does not demand for the return of his girl from where she is sent to live with relatives. (143-144) In each version, Christine Shojaei Kawan’s theme from “A Brief Literary History of Snow White” demonstrates a “double theme of love and hatred” between Snow White and the stepmother.
The hate appears as the stepmother hating Snow White for her beauty in the Brothers Grimm tale. (Kawan, 325) As for the Oyeyemi text, it stems from Snow Whitman wishing for a mother (Oyeyemi, 19) but also why Boy sends Snow away, to protect how the new child, Bird, is viewed by society. (Oyeyemi, 143) When the love comes into play, the end of Oyeyemi’s tale shows how much the stepmother does want Snow’s affection, driving the adult Snow to make up with her. In the Grimm’s version, this love can be interpreted as twisted: a jealous love of Snow White’s beauty and wanting the beauty for her own, which is symbolized by the desire for Snow White’s heart.
“Little Snow White” and Boy, Snow, Bird also differ most notably with the novel beginning with the stepmother’s perspective. In fact, most of the novel comes from the view of the stepmother, who Oyeyemi calls Boy, contrasting with the distant point of view of the Brothers Grimm’s tale. Oyeyemi’s telling is actually more reminiscent of a version of Snow White older than the Brother’s Grimm tale. This older version is Johann Karl August Musäus’ Richilde (Richilde in German), published in 1782. As in Richilde, Oyeyemi begins with the origin of the stepmother, the woman believed to be the villain, and also makes the stepmother the main character. (Kawan, 331; Oyeyemi, 3) This comes in contrast with the Brothers Grimm tale following the path of Snow White along with the stepmother.
Another striking similarity yet with differences is how both Oyeyemi and the Brothers Grimm change the stepmother from each of their original sources. The original for Oyeyemi is the Brothers Grimm “Little Snow White” and her change showed more depth in the stepmother, allowing for her to be understood by society as protecting her own child and thus sending her stepdaughter away. (Oyeyemi, 143-144) As for the Brothers Grimm, “Little Snow White” was changed from their source and their 1st through 4th editions of Kinder- und Haus- Märchen with the biological mother to the use of the stepmother in the 5th edition. (Kawan, 335)
Thirdly, a common view between Oyeyemi’s tale and the opinion of Jacob Grimm is of Snow Whitman and Snow White being an Unglückskind, a child of ill luck and becoming an omen. Jacob Grimm found the color scheme of Snow White to be foreboding as she was white as snow, red as blood, and black as ravens, creating an omen of death and ill health. (Kawan, 335) In the Grimm tale, the stepmother queen views Snow White as a threat to being who is the most beautiful in the land. As for in Boy, Snow, Bird, Snow Whitman puts Boy at unease many times and as the tale progressed the omen would speak for both the power of mirrors and family relations. Tension between Boy and Snow settled down eventually, but Boy never let her guard down. For example, when she, the father, and Snow went on a vacation, it was early morning in the hotel room: “Snow was right there, after all. And she wasn’t sleeping. She didn’t give herself away even for a second, but that kid [Snow] was keeping tabs. I [Boy] knew and she knew.” (Oyeyemi, 103)
Whereas Shuli Barzilai’s “Reading ‘Snow White’: The Mother’s Story” states that “Snow White” as told by the Brothers Grimm is “the daughter’s story” and tells its tale from what happens to Snow White (Barzilai, 522-523), Oyeyemi shifts the focus of the tale off of Snow White and onto the stepmother to illustrate how and why the stepmother acts in such a manner. From this approach, Boy never truly comes across as the “wicked stepmother” and acts within reason to protect her offspring, who turns out to be “colored” due to the true ancestry of the Whitman family: African Americans from Louisiana. (Oyeyemi, 132)
Barzilai also takes notice of how “[h]ate rather than love becomes the keynote of” the relationship between the Queen and Snow White for, as the tale ends, the Queen is drastically punished for what crime she has committed against the young princess. (Barzilai, 534) Boy, on the other hand, amends her relationship with Snow in Oyeyemi’s tale by letting Snow slap her “so hard my ears rang”. (Oyeyemi, 284) Also in contrast to the Grimm’s tale, Snow is treated like Boy at the beginning, with unwanted attention that others believe to be flattery. Both are beauties of their own accord with Boy having an Eastern European appearance and Snow being just as beautiful as Snow White. (Oyeyemi, 3 and 77 respectively)
For the last distinctive difference between the Brothers Grimm tale and Oyeyemi’s novel, a look at the revival of Snow White/Whitman comes to play. The Brothers Grimm narrate Snow White having “hardly had … a bit of it in her mouth than she fell down dead”, but her appearance never changed to reflect her death and seemed to be only a trancelike slumber. Departing from this realm of magic, Oyeyemi makes the revival of Snow more realistic and less magical by having the revival portrayed as an event any person can relate to; Snow Whitman merely is coming to visit with her Aunt and Uncle and have Thanksgiving dinner with her family. (Oyeyemi, 241) The ability of the arrival to come from this direction comes out of how contemporary literature changes for the audience of its time and killing the stepdaughter is not probable as stated by Vanessa Joosen in “Disenchanting the Fairy Tale: Retellings of ‘Snow White’ between Magic and Realism”. (Joosen, 229)
Playing an important part of the disenchanting yet illusionary aspect of Oyeyemi’s novel, mirrors play as important a roll as in the Brothers Grimm tale. Like other modern fairy tale adaptations, Oyeyemi uses “realism” to create and rationalize the magic behind the mirror and also to demonstrate relationships. (Joosen, 229) Realism, in this case, is explained by Joosen as anything that can be explained by empirical science, which much in Oyeyemi’s novel can be despite the mystic, uncertainty set up by the mirrors.
To begin with, however, both the fairy tale and the novel begin in a sense of realism. The fairy tale comes through as a woman wishing for a child to be born beautiful and allows for the assumption that the mother will look much like the daughter, as genetics will have it. (Joosen, 231) In regards to Boy, Snow, Bird, it is probable and possible that looking in a mirror for Boy was an escape from the life of abuse she suffered from her home life and her school life. (Oyeyemi, 3-4) The mirror comes to mean more than that, however, as demonstrated by what Oyeyemi wrote:
mirror: [ˈmirə] |
More than just an escape, the mirror symbolizes information in both the Brothers Grimm tale and Boy, Snow Bird. The Queen in the tale uses her mirror to always find out who the fairest of them all is and when it becomes the princess, she uses the mirror to always learn where the princess is located. (Joosen, 232) With Boy, however, the mirror takes on the inner side of her personality and becomes like the second half of Oyeyemi’s definition of mirror – impish and amoral – such as when Boy thinks the girl in the mirror, her reflection, “was making fun of [her] for sure, but [she] decided not to take it personally.” (Oyeyemi, 123) Nevertheless, Boy views the mirror as having more information that it is letting on because of how much mirrors see happening. (Oyeyemi, 122)
As the mirrors in Oyeyemi’s novel have been disenchanted from the original magic in the Brothers Grimm tale, the mirrors are more realistic. This disenchantment allows for the fear of not understanding to be explained and for a reflection of how one feels in one’s surroundings. (Joosen, 236) Such an idea becomes clear in the fairy tale when the Queen asks the question “Who is the fairest of them all?” alluding to an envy and a hate inside of her that is growing each passing moment that she knows Snow White is the more beautiful; this envy of the Queen is regarded as an ugly trait in a person. In Boy, Snow, Bird, the disenchantment appears upon Boy having seen herself as being dizzy from low blood sugar as she walks down the street. (Oyeyemi, 59-62) Here the mirror becomes the mirror image as Boy hallucinates, and suggests perhaps she has been hallucinating all along whenever she sees her reflection respond to her feelings, as she wishes it to, and also as it displays the evil and the good sides of her personality based on her desires. (Barzilai, 526)
Unlike in the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, multiple people have an experience in Boy, Snow, Bird with mirrors, reflections, and imitation, thus making the experience of Boy not unique except by the extent in which she looks for her reflection, as if she is searching always for the answer to the question she does not know she has asked. Even as Boy’s in-laws avoid looking in a mirror as they try to hide what their heritage is from themselves (Oyeyemi, 185), the half-sisters, Snow and Bird, cannot even see their reflection in most mirrors. (Oyeyemi, 207) Not being able to see one another stems more to finding a part of themselves missing until they meet for the first time Bird can remember around Thanksgiving, when they both finally see each other side by side in a mirror. The image of the sisters in the mirror shows them hugging even though they are not actually doing so. (Oyeyemi, 264) Such an image reveals the mental state of both girls as they finally have rekindled the bond they used to have when Snow was eight years-old and Bird was just an infant.
Another aspect of mirroring, which occurs in Oyeyemi’s novel but not in the Brothers Grimm tale, is the imitation mentioned in the previous paragraph. One day, when Bird visits her grandmother, she discovers her hidden talent of being able to imitate other women perfectly with, the exception of her mother. (Oyeyemi, 167) It is the only voice of mirroring in the novel in comparison to when the mirror does the speaking in the fairy tale. This act of imitation speaks to Bird as a person who is always trying, much like a bird of trickery, to be an antagonist, which makes her have a similar role to the mirror in the fairy tale. It is Bird’s approval Snow White and Boy first seek, whereas the mirror in the fairytale represents the absent father/husband as mentioned in the annotations for the tale on SurLaLune. (Grimm, Heiner, and Robinson)
Furthermore, the fairest of them all is concluded to be Snow White in the Brothers Grimm telling; however, the fairest of them all is a matter of opinion when based upon viewing who it could be in Oyeyemi’s tale. As Oyeyemi tells the story, the fairest could be any of the three main female leads and title characters, Boy, Snow, or Bird. By the end of the tale, each has come to terms with whom they have come to be for better or for worse, and no one hates the other for what has happened to them. So even as the fairy tale connection is clear through the names and basic plot of Boy, Snow, Bird to “Little Snow White”, the characters have grown into stronger people who have had actual character growth with answers to the question why the mirror has given them the answer they need.
As the mirrors in Oyeyemi’s novel have been disenchanted from the original magic in the Brothers Grimm tale, the mirrors are more realistic. This disenchantment allows for the fear of not understanding to be explained and for a reflection of how one feels in one’s surroundings. (Joosen, 236) Such an idea becomes clear in the fairy tale when the Queen asks the question “Who is the fairest of them all?” alluding to an envy and a hate inside of her that is growing each passing moment that she knows Snow White is the more beautiful; this envy of the Queen is regarded as an ugly trait in a person. In Boy, Snow, Bird, the disenchantment appears upon Boy having seen herself as being dizzy from low blood sugar as she walks down the street. (Oyeyemi, 59-62) Here the mirror becomes the mirror image as Boy hallucinates, and suggests perhaps she has been hallucinating all along whenever she sees her reflection respond to her feelings, as she wishes it to, and also as it displays the evil and the good sides of her personality based on her desires. (Barzilai, 526)
Unlike in the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, multiple people have an experience in Boy, Snow, Bird with mirrors, reflections, and imitation, thus making the experience of Boy not unique except by the extent in which she looks for her reflection, as if she is searching always for the answer to the question she does not know she has asked. Even as Boy’s in-laws avoid looking in a mirror as they try to hide what their heritage is from themselves (Oyeyemi, 185), the half-sisters, Snow and Bird, cannot even see their reflection in most mirrors. (Oyeyemi, 207) Not being able to see one another stems more to finding a part of themselves missing until they meet for the first time Bird can remember around Thanksgiving, when they both finally see each other side by side in a mirror. The image of the sisters in the mirror shows them hugging even though they are not actually doing so. (Oyeyemi, 264) Such an image reveals the mental state of both girls as they finally have rekindled the bond they used to have when Snow was eight years-old and Bird was just an infant.
Another aspect of mirroring, which occurs in Oyeyemi’s novel but not in the Brothers Grimm tale, is the imitation mentioned in the previous paragraph. One day, when Bird visits her grandmother, she discovers her hidden talent of being able to imitate other women perfectly with, the exception of her mother. (Oyeyemi, 167) It is the only voice of mirroring in the novel in comparison to when the mirror does the speaking in the fairy tale. This act of imitation speaks to Bird as a person who is always trying, much like a bird of trickery, to be an antagonist, which makes her have a similar role to the mirror in the fairy tale. It is Bird’s approval Snow White and Boy first seek, whereas the mirror in the fairytale represents the absent father/husband as mentioned in the annotations for the tale on SurLaLune. (Grimm, Heiner, and Robinson)
Furthermore, the fairest of them all is concluded to be Snow White in the Brothers Grimm telling; however, the fairest of them all is a matter of opinion when based upon viewing who it could be in Oyeyemi’s tale. As Oyeyemi tells the story, the fairest could be any of the three main female leads and title characters, Boy, Snow, or Bird. By the end of the tale, each has come to terms with whom they have come to be for better or for worse, and no one hates the other for what has happened to them. So even as the fairy tale connection is clear through the names and basic plot of Boy, Snow, Bird to “Little Snow White”, the characters have grown into stronger people who have had actual character growth with answers to the question why the mirror has given them the answer they need.
*Header Image is Snowdrop (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) by Walter Crane.
References:
- Barzilai, Shuli. "Reading 'Snow White': The Mother's Story." Signs 15.3 (1990): 515-534. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
- Crane, Lucy, translator. Household Stories from the Collection of the Brothers Grimm. Walter Crane, illustrator. London: Macmillan & Co., 1882.
- de la Mare, Walter. Told Again: Old Tales Told Again. A. H. Watson, illustrator. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927.
- Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. Hansel and Gretel and Other Stories by the Brothers Grimm. Kay Nielsen, illustrator. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1925.
- Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. “Little Snow White.” Household Tales. Margaret Hunt, translator. London: George Bell, 1884.
- Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, Heidi A. Heiner, and Ian Robinson. "SurLaLune Fairy Tales: Annotations for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." SurLaLune Fairy Tales: Annotations for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Amazon.com, CafePress.com, 10 Feb. 2014. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.
- Jerrold, Walter, editor. The Big Book of Fairy Tales. Charles Robinson, illustrator. London: Blackie & Son, [1911]. Joosen, Vanessa. "Disenchanting The Fairy Tale: Retellings Of 'Snow White' Between Magic And Realism." Marvels & Tales: Journal Of Fairy-Tale Studies 21.2 (2007): 228-239. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
- Kawan, Christine Shojaei. "A Brief Literary History Of Snow White." Fabula: Zeitschrift Für Erzählforschung/Journal Of Folktale Studies/Revue D'etudes Sur Le Conte Populaire 49.3-4 (2008): 325-342. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
- Oyeyemi, Helen. Boy, Snow, Bird. New York: Riverhead, 2014.