The Snow Queen

While much 19th-century literature addresses readers directly, Andersen opens the story with an unusually direct call to the reader and an announcement that a story is coming. The chapter’s closing line similarly acts as a call to continue reading, signaling that with the context out of the way, the main narrative will start. Andersen’s tone in these addresses is conversational but also didactic, reflecting the story’s young readership.

The story’s opening also establishes an explicitly Christian framework through its references to heaven and the devil. In this context, the dropping of the mirror en route to heaven suggests another fall—the tale of Adam and Eve and humanity’s fall from grace. Like that fall, the consequences of the mirror breaking change humanity’s relationship to reality: Those directly or indirectly affected by the shards can’t help but see the worst of the world, which establishes The Power of Perspective as an important theme. That people are susceptible to this effect speaks to their imperfect, fallen nature, but Andersen is clear that this is not the full truth of humanity. Though the devil thinks that the mirror is revealing humanity as it truly is—i.e., evil—the story’s events prove this cynicism both false and harmful.

In Chapter 1, the narrator notes the problems faced by those who absorbed or are afflicted by a single shard of the mirror, developing the theme of perspective but also introducing The Innocence of Childhood. The juxtaposition of Gerda and Kai shows the difference between someone affected by the shard and someone who is not. Where Gerda remains innocent and pure-hearted, Kai shows how easily this innocence can be lost under the proper influence. With shards in both his eye and heart, Kai sees the world negatively and believes this negativity to be the truth. Kai’s outlook informs his actions and decisions. Before he is pierced by the shards, he spends his days joyfully playing with Gerda; they laugh and joke even about serious topics such as the Snow Queen. After the shards pierce him, he is cruel and spiteful, pushing his loved ones away and seeing only the worst in others. Notably, this change in perspective coincides with a shift away from childish pleasures and toward “mature” rationality; Kai begins to spend time with older children and finds he can only recite multiplication tables rather than prayers. It is also telling that many adults welcome this change, saying that it bodes well for Kai’s future. Through these changes, Andersen suggests that the shift from childhood to adulthood often entails a loss of one’s capacity for compassion, wonder, and belief.

These early chapters also introduce some of the story’s most important symbolism. The shared garden between Gerda’s and Kai’s windows represents their friendship, while the fact that they frequently traverse the space between their windows suggests that Gerda will stop at nothing to rescue Kai once he is taken. The closed windows in the wintertime establish cold—and thus, the Snow Queen—as a symbol of isolation; Kai seeing the Snow Queen for the first time during winter foreshadows his capture (also during winter) and imprisonment. However, Kai is already susceptible to the Snow Queen’s power because of the shard in his heart, which is why he doesn’t fight her and why she can so easily turn Kai’s heart to ice and cause him to forget his loved ones. Andersen suggests that people can easily become cold, cruel, and isolated when they are ruled by negativity. As seen in upcoming chapters, this directly contrasts with Gerda’s unspoiled innocence. She never forgets Kai or gives up on him because she is untainted by the darkness of the world and the negativity of the mirror.