Journal+4

=**Journal: Write a character analysis of Mattie Silver**=

Mattie Silver is a beautiful, sweet-tempered girl that is still very immature and naive. She is the definition of beauty in Ethan's eyes. She always has "the color of the cherry scarf in her fresh lips and cheeks" (22). She also has a "cloud of dark hair" and "dark eyes" (13). She is a symbol of mystery, arousal, and temptation. Although snow is often described as cold and stark by Ethan, it becomes beautiful and playful when Mattie is around. Mattie makes everything sweet around her, and allows Ethan to see the "sun's red and pure glitter on the snow" (24). Mattie is often wearing a red scarf, headband, or ribbon to symbolize the heat and passion she brings. She is the complete opposite of Zeena to Ethan. Zeena is cold and harsh, but Mattie brings light.

Mattie represents a young maiden in a fairytale. Her dark hair, in contrast to her porcelain white skin, is similar to Snow White. She has the beauty that a princess would, but sadly she lacks the skills that a woman would need to get married. Although she is almost past the courting age, she still doesn't have any offers. She can "trim a hate and make molasses candy", but she doesn't posses any real skills (25). She needs to be able to perform tasks a housewife would be able to do. According to Zeena, Mattie is ineffective at taking care of the house. In fairy tales, the maiden has to find a mentor and learn how to properly serve her husband. If Mattie is considered the maiden, then from the beginning we should have known she couldn't have married Ethan. Although she possesses the bubbly and sweet traits, her immaturity prevents her from being able to ever marry.

Mattie's sweet and innocent manner resembles that of a child. She always needs Ethan to resemble an authority figure. After the pickle dish broke, she needed Ethan to step in and fix it for her. After he commanded her to listen to him, "she drew aside, instinctively obeying his tone" (35). She wants Ethan to control her and to tell her what to do because she isn't capable of doing it herself. Her character implies that women are the weaker sex, and that they need to be dominated. Her cheery, airy nature fits a doll-like representation as well. I can almost see her batting her little eyelashes and nodding her little head at whatever someone tells her. She is also not aware of the cruelty and darkness of the world. Her parents pampered her before they died, and only now are people beginning to mistreat her. Her entire family shoved her from relative to relative because no one wants the burden. Ethan wants to take care of her, and she allows him to treat her like a child.

Mattie ended up not being the princess in the end. Although her beauty and kind traits mirror those of a maiden in a fairy tale, she lacks the skills to ever make a desirable wife. No prince wants a wife that can't clean or make him supper. She is too fragile and dainty to ever become more than a child. After the accident, she didn't mature mentally, but in every other way. Her beauty vanished along with her pretty voice and her compassion. She is now just a shell of a broken girl who continues the cycle of evil queens, witches, and hags.