Snow
In the short story "Snow," Beattie uses beautiful imagery to describe the wintry landscape. For example, consider the following passage:
“This is a story, told the way you say stories should be told: Somebody grew up, fell in love, and spent a winter with her lover in the country. This, of course, is the barest outline, and futile to discuss. It’s as pointless as throwing birdseed on the ground while snow still falls fast. Who expects small things to survive when even the largest get lost? People forget years and remember moments. Seconds and symbols are left to sum things up: the black shroud over the pool. Love, in its shortest form, becomes a word.”
The Wallpaper
In "Snow," the narrator uses the imagery of the grape wallpaper in order to represent the relationship between the narrator and her lover. They try to paint over the grape pattern on the wallpaper; however, the narrator fears that the pattern will be seen through the paint, representing the unsolvable problems in the relationship.
