Summary Of Conrad Aiken's Short Story 'Silent Snow, Secret Snow'

“Silent Snow, Secret Snow” is a short story by Conrad Aiken. It tells the story of Paul Hasleman, a twelve year boy who lives a double life as he escapes to his secret world of snow. He struggles to maintain normality in the real world when his parents begin to get worry. Paul is desperate to keep his frozen world a secret from his parents, even though it’s all in his head. By analyzing the different literary elements, a greater understanding of “Silent Snow, Secret Snow” can be reached.

The theme in “Silent Snow, Secret Snow” is the diagnosis of mental illness, and how it is treated. Aiken seems to be telling a tale of a boy who is viewing the world in an abnormal way. He is aware that he’s view of the world is abnormal, “This was almost the first thing he had noticed about it- apart from the oddness of the thing itself-and it was this that now again, for the fiftieth time, occurred to him, as he sat in the little schoolroom” (Aiken 18). He knew that if other people found out about his secret world, he would be judged. He loves the world he sees and is unable to give it up, so he begins to live a double life. In Paul’s mind, he’s a completely normal boy with a secret that he doesn’t want to share with anyone. His secret “gave him a fortress, a

wall behind which he could retreat into heavenly seclusion” (Aiken 18). Paul’s parents are unaware of his secret, but they have noticed his behavior. They believe there is something terribly wrong with their boy. They think he is ill and need medical assistance, “At bed time, the night before, Mother had said, “If this goes on, my lad, we’ll have to see a doctor, we will!”” (Aiken 22). Aiken shows a side of mental illness that most people don’t consider. The people, who are considered ill, do not see anything wrong with themselves. They are, however, aware that some people do not think the same way. In this story, the parents who are trying so hard to cure their boy of his “illness” are seen as the villains. In reality, the snow itself is the main antagonist. It’s tearing Paul away from his family and the real world. It also creates animosity and causes Paul to hate his parents at the end, “This had been, indeed, the only distressing feature of the new experience; the fact that it so increasingly had brought him into a kind of mute misunderstanding, or even conflict, with his father and mother” (Aiken 20). This also represents the main conflict of this story. Paul is torn between his two worlds. His parents are trying to save him, but the snow, the illness, creates this illusion that the parents are the antagonists. It seems like they are taking the one thing that brings him happiness. The arrival of the doctor is also evidence towards the theme of mental illness. His vivid imagination is disrupting his social life, “Each day it was more difficult to go through the perfunctory motions of greeting Mother and Father at breakfast, to reply to their questions, to put his books together and go to school”(Aiken 21). This shows that this isn’t just for fun. This is something that is harming him. No matter how much it hurts him, he can’t control it, “For effort implied something voluntary, and perhaps even something one did not especially want; whereas this was distinctly pleasant, and came almost of its own accord” (Aiken 18).
“Silent Snow, Secret Snow” is told from a third person point of view. The narrator is aware of the world that Paul imagines, and tells of Paul’s conflicting emotions. He wants to be good son but at the same time he knows if he tells he will be judge. The narrator shows what’s happening in real time while also telling the reader what Paul is actually thinking. The narrator describes the world Paul dreams of and the words the snow says to him. Everything is told from Paul’s perspective. The reader never knows what the parents are thinking. The reader only knows what Paul knows and sees. The narrator also sheds some light into Paul feelings about his predicament. The narrator reveals that Paul felt like the doctor visit was a joke, “As if he weren’t so sure that reassurance was no longer necessary, and all this cross-examination a ridiculous farce, a grotesque parody” (Aiken 27). Paul also thinks that his parents and the doctor are too closeminded to understand, “These gross intelligences, these humdrum minds so bound to the usual, the ordinary? Impossible to tell them about it!”(Aiken 27) The narrator also reveals a sense of remorse and acceptance. Paul feels bad that his parents are worrying about him. He doesn’t want to keep the snow world a secret but he feels like he can’t help it. He doesn’t want his parents to look down on him. He doesn’t want to be judge, “No-it was only too plain that if anything were said about it, the merest hint given, they would be incredulous-they would laugh-they would say “Absurd!”-think things about him which weren’t true” (Aiken 27) in this sense, the narrator is a bit unreliable in terms of time and the sequence of events. He’s as forgetful as Paul, when it comes to the exact day things happened, “he could not now remember whether it was on the first or the second morning-or was it even the third?”(Aiken19). Whenever Paul minds is stopped abruptly, the narration stops as well. The narrator is reliable when it comes to the mirage of the snow, but as for specific things, the narrator is unreliable. The narrator is a limited narrator as he only aware of Paul’s character and inner thoughts.
There is not enough evidence in the text to name a specific temporal setting. The way the characters talk does show that this story is not set in present time. The conversations Paul and his parents do show that “Silent Snow, Secret Snow” is not set during modern times. They call Paul “Lad” and “my boy”. These words are rarely used in present times. As for the spatial setting, “Silent Snow, Secret Snow” takes place at Paul’s house and school.
There is one main example of exposition in “Silent Snow, Secret Snow”.

This is example is when Paul remembers the first morning he heard the muffled footsteps of the post man, “Anyway, it was after he had stretched a lazy hand up toward the headrail, and yawned, and then relaxed again among his warm covers, all the more grateful on a December morning, that the thing had happened” (Aikens 18). Exposition is also present when the narrator describes all the mornings after the first. He recalls the morning where his mother questioned his behavior, “He could not now remember whether it was on the first or the second morning-or was it even the third?-that his mother had drawn attention to some oddness in his manner”(Aiken

19)
“Silent Snow, Secret Snow” is filled with figurative language. The two main ones are metaphors and similes. Paul’s illness and the secrecy of it are constantly compared to something, “It was like a peculiarly beautiful trinket to be carried unmentioned in one’s trouser pocket-a rare stamp, an old coin, a few tiny gold links found trodden out of shape on the path in the park, a pebble of carnelian, a seashell distinguishable from all the others by an unusual spot or stripe” (Aiken 18). “Silent Snow, Secret Snow” also shows the use of repetition. The words “queer”, “beautiful”, and “delicious” are constantly used in the text. The statement “at whatever pain to others” is also used constantly. There is evidence of onomatopoeia when the narrator describes the ticking of the clock, “He could hear the soft irregular flutter of the flames; the cluck-click-cluck-click of the clock” (Aiken 28). “Silent Snow, Secret Snow” also has allusions, “Oh, well it would be fun to be an explorer. Another Peary or Scott or Shackleton” (Aiken 20). The snow itself is an example of personification. It is described as having power, “-and more importantly by a sense of mysterious power in his very secrecy” (Aiken 21). It also verbally manipulates Paul at the end of the story, “The snow was laughing; it spoke from all sides at once; it pressed closer to him as he ran and jumped exulting into his bed” (Aiken 28). His parents are a symbol of hostility in his perfect world. He didn’t see them as his parents at the end, “But then a gash of horrible light fell brutally across the room from the opening door-the snow drew back hissing-something alien had come into the room-something hostile. This rushed at him, clutched at him, shook him-and he was not merely horrified, he was filled with such loathing as he had never known. What was this? This cruel disturbance? This act of anger and hate?” (Aiken 29) This was the climax that had been hinted at throughout the story. Paul was willing to destroy his relationship with his parents for his world of snow, “At whatever pain to others, nevertheless, one must preserve in severance, since the incommunicability of the experience demanded it.” (Aiken 23). Paul could no longer recognize his parents, “But of that other world he still remembered just enough to know the exorcising the words” (Aiken 29). When he told his mom he hated her, he destroyed their relationship like he said he would. When the snow tells the story to Paul at the very end, it’s actually his story, “We’ll tell you the last, the most beautiful story and secret story-shut your eyes-it is a very small story-a story that gets smaller and smaller-it comes inward instead of opening like a flower-it is a flower becoming a seed-a little cold seed-do you hear? We are leaning closer to you-” (Aiken 29). Paul is the flower. The snow is pressing itself into Paul, forcing him to become isolated from society. He is the flower that is becoming the cold seed. He’s not blooming, he’s regressing. He’s slinking away from society by accepting his illness.
“Silent Snow, Secret Snow” is the story of a boy who desires to escape the world of reality caused him to choose isolation. To Paul, the world was ugly. He would much rather cast away his sanity to live a life in a frozen wasteland where he would not be judged. Aiken’s use of different literary devices provides a new perspective into the mind of a boy suffering through mental illness and his acceptance of it.