Synopsis

• A Queen wishes for a daughter with hair as black as ebony and skin as white as snow. Her wish is granted but the Queen dies, shortly after naming the child, Snow White.
• Snow White's father remarries, and her step mother brings with her a magic mirror. She asks the mirror every day if she is the fairest of them all and one day it replies that Snow white is the fairest of them all.
• The Queen orders for the girl to be killed. The huntsmen takes pitty on Snow White and she runs into the forest.
• In the forest she meets a group of little men, who she cooks and cleans for until one day, the Queen discovers she is still alive and concocts a plan to kill her.
• The queen offers Snow White a poison apple, Snow White bites the apple and falls into a deep sleep. The men and the Queen think she is dead.
• A handsome prince happens upon the sleeping Snow White and gifts her with a kiss breaking the spell and they live happily ever after.

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Analysis

The mirror in the story of Snow White, is perhaps the best known of the mirrors in children’s traditional literature. Accompanied by the line of "Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" The mirror in this tale could be called the most famous mirror in history. Instantly when people mention Fairy tales and mirrors, Snow White comes to mind.

But why may we ask would this particular mirror be the one most remembered in childrens literature? And what issues does it raise?

The mirror has some deep connections with things other worldly, and fairy tale is part of that. The world of the fairy tale is the world where anything is possible. Where a jealous queen can ask her mirror questions, and a young girl can find love. The elements of magic involved in the mirror in the tale of Snow White is obvious, and often it is the elements of magic that draw us to a story. Humans are naturally curious creatures and we love to discover the unknown. The thought of a talking, magical mirror is part of that.