Snow Secret Snow Short Story Analysis

Conrad Aiken is a highly acclaimed American author and poet that had a traumatic childhood. Aiken projects his childhood, the coping mechanisms he uses, and his perception of the events onto his works. At the age of 10, Aiken walked into his parents bedroom to find that his mother had been killed by his father who then proceeded to kill himself. Aiken close relatives adopted his four siblings, but refused to take him with them so he was sent to live with family in Western Massachusetts. In many of Aiken 's short stories and poems, the emotions that he felt and the mental toll that was put on him are vividly described. There are many common perceptions of the themes that Aiken often spoke of that seem to be more apparent, but also, there some …show more content…
The origins of these themes are easily found with the knowledge of his eventful childhood. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. In Silent Snow, Secret Snow the narrator wakes and finds it odd that he cannot hear the foot steps of the approaching mailman. His first assumption is that it must have snowed and that is dampening the sound of the mailman 's footsteps, but when he looked out the window he saw that no snow had fallen. "Queer, the effects this extraordinary surprise had had upon him—kept with him a sense as of snow falling about him, a secret screen of new snow between himself and the world."(Aiken, p. 7) This one experience of having been surprised changed his perception of the world forever. From now on the narrator perceives the world as if it is entrenched in a blizzard that lays down a blanket of snow that is constantly increasing in its intensity and depth. When looking at the definition of schizophrenia it is clear to see that the narrator of this story is suffering due to the fact of the unusual …show more content…
He then states that this is not the worlds perspective, but it 's actually the perspective of a schizophrenic person of the world. Also, he says that this schizophrenia may have come from paranoia induced by traumatic event. Even though there is no traumatic event in the narrators life the sudden entrance into this schizophrenic state is similar to how schizophrenia may just suddenly show up in a person. Also, with the knowledge of Aiken 's childhood it may be Aiken saying that his experiences as a child have permanently sacred him. He could be saying that he is schizophrenic, and it would make sense that he is a schizophrenic due to the fact that he knows what it looks and feels like to be suffering from the altered perception of reality. In addition, the writing of this story may be him reaching out for help. He puts a doctor into the story to say that that is what he needs, but his paranoia is making him feel like the doctor is out to get him and that is why he cannot go on his own, he is afraid. He is also afraid of the doctor because his father was a doctor. Aiken put the personality of his father into the doctor and the narrators father, while he put his mothers personality into the teacher and the narrators