Not Just Eskimos: An Analysis of Memory and Snow Every child has been conditioned to dream of a white Christmas, but a large percentage of the world's population he has never seen snow. Some people from different regions of the world have never experienced snow - how the sun reflects on the snow, how it sounds when the imprint of the first shoe breaks the perfect blanket of snow - but the images and description of snow taken from literature and the media translate these deeper representations. The memory of snow, even if not experienced firsthand, is still a memory with which one identifies. “Not Only the Eskimos” by Lisel Mueller explores the universal themes of peaceful rebirth, inevitable death and the celebration of life through the concept of memories with images of snow. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The term “snow white” associates the symbol of snow with rebirth and purity. On page 219, Mueller refers to “the snow where Elinor Wylie walked / in velvet shoes.” Elinor Wylie's poem, “Velvet Shoes,” offers imagery of peace and the awakening of a new experience with the addition of the blanket of fresh snow: “We walk in the white snow / in a silent space / With quiet steps and slow, / With a calm step, / Under veils of white lace. White continues to be a theme that blends the idea of ​​purity and peace in the last verse of Mueller's piece: “snow as an idea of ​​whiteness / as in snowdrop, snow goose, snowball bush, the snow that puts stars in your hair / and your hair, which has turned to snow” (218-219). The delicate description of white objects related to snow transforms into the delicate image of snow falling on the heads of the audience with the image of stars. If the white snow signals these calls to rebirth, the ability to produce snow must be accompanied by the cold and decay of winter. The sleepy silence of winter snow can be a warning sign that prevents injury or death. On page 217, Mueller alludes to the death and danger resulting from the lack of visibility in the Dakota snow: “surreal snow in the Dakotas / when you can't find your home, your way, / even if you're not in a dream / or a science fiction film." The danger of snow and the fear you feel when your home is darkened is becoming assimilated to the idea of ​​death and, more literally, loss. Whether the reader remembers that image through personal experience or through dramatizations through film, the memory of that danger is felt empathetically and universally. Mueller further explores the concept of death by citing “the snow in Joyce's 'The Dead'” on page 218. James Joyce's tale of lost love connects to the danger of loss: “His soul slowly fainted as he heard the snow falling weakly. across the universe and falling faintly, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.” Joyce leaves the audience with that final phrase as a contrast between the physically dead out in the harsh winter and the figuratively dead in relationships of the past. Mueller draws on this literary work to connect the loss of life to the opposite aspects of his piece: the commemoration of life itself. The contrast between rebirth and death finds balance through the celebration of life. Mueller hints at this idea of ​​a celebration of life through the familiar image of an elementary school approaching winter. Arts and crafts used to release the energy of elementary school students led to the joint creation of,.