Mary is insecure of the
way she looks due to the skin
condition that she has.
She was often teased in her
childhood which led to her
antisocial personality. This
antisocial personality is what
Mary is battling with when she is
trying to make friends.
Person vs. Society
Mary is unable to make friends
easily due to her being a social
outcast, and lacking the confidence
to face society, which is why she is
spending her time lonely in the
library eating her lunch.
She makes a mockery out of the typical high school teenager by dressing up a
cheerleading and wearing many layers of makeup. She is unable to enjoy this for
long due to another student dressing up as her for his costume and everyone (society) at the
party gets a kick out of it.
Person vs Circumstances
Mary struggles with the condition that
was placed upon her by her parent’s
genes, and she forced to deal with this
condition her whole life.
From childhood to her teenage years, she
always felt different and not normal but there
were is no solution to her skin condition, she will
always have to face this battle.
Characters
Mary
She has two recessive albino alleles which
causes her to have a pale white skin tone and
eyes to be a near pink colour.
She enjoys the company of her two
older brothers as well as her best
friend Karen, because they
embrace that she is different and
love her anyways.
She never had a
real social
interaction with
other kids that
were age because
they always
treated her like a
monster.
“When I was little, kids would tease me by
singing ‘Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how’d
ya get so white and scary?’ ”
Mary's emotional detachment from her mother was
caused by her having a small hatred
towards her mother because she was beautiful, a cheerleader
in high school and was fifty percent of the reason
that she has the albino gene.
This leads to her making the cheerleader costume to not only
mock her mother but society as well.
Antagonist
Snow White does not have one specific
character as an antagonist but rather an
entity.
Society is playing the role of the antagonist.
The norms of society are opposing Mary due to
her looks, she will always be on the outside
looking in.
Society is the one putting pressure on
Mary to act a certain way and to look a
certain way, they don’t accept her for
who she is.
Literary Devices
Verbal Irony
“My two older brothers
turned out tan and freckled,
respectively, then bingo, they
hit the genetic jackpot with
me.”
This is verbal irony because jackpot is often associated with a
something positive and lucky but when Mary is using the term
genetic jackpot to describe her condition, she is using the words
to mean the exact opposite.
This jackpot that her parents hit ruined her life.
Dramatic Irony
When Mary’s mother
says “Mary! You look
beautiful” after seeing
her costume, she is
unaware of the fact that
Mary had primarily made
this costume to ridicule
the typical high school
girl as well as her own
mother who was a
cheerleader in high
school.
Hyperbole
"I could have run forever
but after three blocks my
house pulled up in front
of me”
She is using the
exaggeration that she could
forever to describe the fact
that she wanted to run
away from her problems
forever although she can’t
literarily run forever.
Themes
Don’t seek others approval
This could be one theme
of the book because
Mary is seeking for
others to accept her the
way she is.
Her brothers as well as
Karen have already done so,
but she isn’t quite satisfied
yet.
Till the end of the story when
she was mocked at the party,
but Karen still came over to her
house to comfort her which is
when Mary had realized she
didn’t need everyone, she only
needed Karen
One friend is really all you need
This was the last line in the short story, it
recaps how the events in the story are
teaching Mary about the importance of
just appreciating that one friend you may
have.
It is the central idea of the story because even though she is facing social
challenges in the the story that are put upon her, Karen still stood by her
side and was a faithful friend throughout.
Mood
Insecurity
This is the primary theme introduced
early in the first paragraph of this story.
Mary is putting on a cream to try and help
the facial insecurities that she has.
After the mood was set, it was then expanded on further when the
flashbacks of Mary being made fun of as a child. Throughout her life
she had to face insecurity and she continued to face this as the story
continued on. This is how the author created the feeling of
insecurity, through Mary’s experiences
Suspense and Interest
Grace Hu is able to create an interest and build up in
the story by building up Mary’s excitement and
eagerness for the party, while we as the readers could
predict that there would be some sort of conflict
arising at this party.
I was enticed in the story waiting for the
party to arrive and to see how this party
that Mary has built up so much in her head
and planned everything for can collapse
and see her reaction towards it.
Symbolism
The Boy at the
Party
The boy who decided to dress up as Mary for his
Halloween costume is representing society as
whole.
The boy was apathetic towards Mary,
he didn’t care for how Mary would
have felt if she saw this costume, he
only cared about if he had a funny
costume or not.
Society in comparison is essentially the same towards her, they don’t care
about how bullying, putting others down, and making others feel insecure can
really damage a person, they are only worried about getting a good laugh out
of a mean joke.
Cheerleader
A cheerleader is symbolising the image of the
perfect girl in the eyes of Mary.
Cheerleaders are typically pretty, have
great social skills and gets along with
everyone. These are all things that are
contrasting Mary.
Narration
First Person
Snow White is told from the first
perspective of Mary, I think the author
chose to use this perspective because it
was the one that best allowed a deep
connection to be made between the
reader and Mary. The reader is able to
get a closer idea to what Mary is feeling
emotionally and is able to sympathize
with the experiences that she is going
through
Personally I think it did an effective job, as I got
to read through the events that transpired and
knew the thoughts of Mary as they happened, I
was able to relate some of my own personal
experiences of high school that she was
encountering.
I could clearly see the similarities between
Mary and I which led to me loving the
character even more.
Plot
Introduction: Mary has a rare skin
condition that makes her insecure, her
mother often blames herself for this
because she gave her the gene in the first
place, but her brothers and best friend
Karen love her despite everything.
Throughout her life, Mary is made fun of
because of her looks
Starting incident: Mary is eating her
lunches alone recently because she
wants Karen to hang out with her
new friends. Karen misses her and
invites her to her Halloween party
that she is having.
Rising action: Mary decides
to wear a cheerleader
costume to the party, so she
puts on a lot of makeup,
wears her mother’s makeup
and gets new coloured
contacts. She goes to the
party, and no one even
recognizes her, they all think
she is beautiful.
Climax: She notices that a boy has a costume of
her on, and he is making fun of her while the
crowd is laughing around with him. She runs
home crying immediately.
Falling Action: She went into the shower
and when her hair turned a sickly pink
colour, she let all her frustration out and
cut all of her hair off, then shaved it bald.
Conclusion: Karen comes to her house to see if she is
okay, she cheers her up and they decide to go out
together. Mary realizes that you truly do only need one
friend.