A Structuralist Appreciation of Angela Carter’s “The Snow Child” Glimpsed through a Feminist Awareness

Abstract

Structuralism can be defined as a literary critical theory aiming at the exploration, excavation and/or establishment of structural networks in a way as to relate the individual literary work or elements in a literary work to the assumably ‘engulfing’ system or state of existence which that particular literary work is considered to emanate from. Originating in prominent Swiss linguist Saussure’s studies, structuralism tends to treat a literary text as language and endeavours to uncover the whole ‘system’ or at least available elements of the system embedded in that work. Accordingly, the following article handles the deciphering of structuralist streaks in Angela Carter’s short story “The Snow Child” which can be deemed as a defiance of sexist attitude infusing fairy tale genre. In this respect, in order to come up with a thoroughly structuralist evaluation of “The Snow Child”; similarities, binary oppositions, symbols as well as conventional codes of expectations displayed in the story bear great significance since their being exposed to an analytical eye enables the elucidation of underlying structure the story both embodies and at the same time challenges.

Keywords

• Structuralism
• system
• Saussure
• Angela Carter
• fairy tale
• patriarchy