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Shane Kunz

Dr. Grogan

American Literature

May 5, 2019

Interracial Relationships as Shown in Kay Boyle’s “White as Snow”

Kay Boyle wrote many stories pertaining to racism and the morals of society during her

long writing career. She used life experiences and put those experiences into her stories

allowing them to relate more to the reader. Stories such as “White as Snow” as well as “Black

Boy” are focused on racist subjects and how society viewed those racist subjects at that time.

Not many articles were written on Boyle’s work, but Elizabeth Bell studied and wrote a

scholarly article pertaining to the way Boyle wrote her stories and characters and how

characters of different races interacted with one another. I agree with Bell that Boyle uses

“White as Snow” to show the reality of racism in America at this time and would add that this

story pairs well with “Black Boy” in that both show attraction between white and black people,

which indicates that racism is not innate but learned.

Throughout Bells article she talks about how Boyle’s “White as Snow” shows the

reality of racism in America, at the time of Boyle writing the story. In “White as Snow” the

main character Carrie starts to like a white boy named Adamic. This is a good thing yet at the

time it was seen as bad. Carrie was a black girl who grew up in a time when Jim Crow laws

took many rights away that blacks should. Carrie had to learn of this by getting involved with a

white boy whom she thought liked her as much as she did him. Yet, Adamic stays away from

Carrie when they are in public together since it was not a good thing for a white boy to be
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dating a black girl. In Bells article she states, “Carrie is not able to sit with Adamic on their

date as she will be confined to the Jim Crow gallery (Bell, 39).” Bell is stating how even

though the young couple is on a date Carrie still is not able to sit with Adamic, because of the

social pressures put on the two because they are both of different skin colors. And throughout

the story Carrie try’s her hardest to look more like a white woman than a black going so far as

to call her skin sunburnt since she does not want to be associated with black people because her

whole life she has seen them as the bad people thanks to Jim Crow and racist America. Boyle

uses these arguments well but really hits home when the main character is that of a child. The

reader gets to see how societal issues can affect their children. Bell also addresses this in her

article stating “The children who watch as the events of the story unfold believe that the actions

of Adamic towards Carrie are alright since they are to young to moralize the situation Carrie is

in.” As Bell states the children who watch as the story unfolds are to young to make out that

Adamic actions towards Carrie are not right and therefore believe the children think that his

actions are right.

“White as Snow” is not the only story that Boyle has written revolving around a black

and white character relationship. In “Black Boy”, another one of Boyles stories, the story

revolves around a black boy and a white girl. These two characters have devolved a

relationship with one another. Whether they are as lovers or just as friends it is up for the reader

to decide. After the girl is knocked unconscious and the black boy takes her back to her house

where her grandfather Puss lives. Puss immediately hits the black boy and the story ends. In

this ending scene the reader sees how the girls grandfather views black people and his dislike

for them just by his actions alone. The two can not be together because of the societal pressures

put on them by the older generation. This same message is seen in “White as Snow” with he
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characters Carrie and Adamic. Both stories show how Jim Crow society has shaped America

and how interracial relationships were looked down upon. Although both stories go about

showing how these societal pressures can affect the characters in different ways. In “White as

Snow” Adamic stays away from Carrie in public in fear that he would be looked down upon by

society for being in a relationship with a woman of color. In “Black Boy” the two characters do

not mind being seen with one another in public but because of societal pressures put on both of

them they can not be together. This is shown at the end when the black boy takes the girl back

to her grandfather Puss and he hits him. Puss is a racist and would not stand for his

granddaughter to be in a relationship with a black boy because of it. The societal pressures in

both of these stories reflect what was the social norm in America during the time when Boyle

wrote these stories and she was able to show the affect these societal pressures could have on

the younger generation watching and learning what was happening by the actions of the older

generation.

Boyle is not a well-known writer but has written many good stories that pertain to race

and racism. Throughout her career she has seen and experienced many racial happenings in

America. She used what was happening around her and put those subjects into her stories. Like

in the 60s, 70s, and the 80s when the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement was a hot

topic. Boyle used these events as material to write about in her stories. And as Boyle grew and

developed as a writer, she took her experiences from the real world and put them into her

fiction, such as racism as her patience with justice dissolved her stories started to look much

different than they had at the beginning of the century (Bell, 5). But Boyle also had a way at

making the reader understanding how bad what was happening really was. She usually wrote

her stories from the perspective of children. This allowed her to show the reader how the
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actions of an adult, good or bad, could influence the knowledge a child could learn from those

actions. It showed how children were being “betrayed” by society and the adult world.

Throughout Boyles life she was a very big advocate for equal rights and truly was ahead

of her times in regard to the Civil Rights Movement. Boyle wrote her stories on the events that

were taking place throughout America at the time and she showed the consequences those

events could have on the next generation. Boyle was able to use her experiences to help her

write powerful stories such as “White as Snow”, and “Black Boy” pertaining to major issues in

society at the time and give the reader a look at all the bad that was really happening in Jim

Crow America.

Word Count: 1202

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Works Cited

Bell, Elizabeth S. Kay Boyle: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1992. Print.