Snow Literary Elements

Postmodern Novel

Kars, in Turkey in the early 1990s; some scenes also in Frankfurt shortly after

Our narrator is a third-person omniscient narrator named Orhan, who bears a striking resemblance to the author Orhan Pamuk himself.

The tone is cynical and reflective, while the overall mood of the text might be said to be dramatic and realistic.

Ka is our protagonist, though he is not necessarily relatable or likable, and though many figures are painted as antagonist (e.g., Z Demirkol, Blue, Sunay Zaim), the true enemies in the text are Ka's selfishness (which precludes his happiness) and the social conditions of Turkey.

The major conflict of the novel, as far as Ka is concerned, is how to deal with the political and religious turmoil in Kars without getting either himself or Ipek, the woman he loves, killed. On a larger scale, however, the thematic conflict in the novel is primarily between secularism and fundamentalism, as well as Westernization versus Eastern ways of life.

The climax of the story might be said to come during Sunay Zaim's second play, when Kadife kills Sunay and brings the coup to an end. On the other hand, an argument could be made that the climax comes during the first play/coup—after which things accelerate and intensify—or during the moment of Ka's betrayal of Blue (after which his happiness is ruined and he marks himself as a target in the future).

Because the novel is written from the historical hindsight of Orhan, we get a lot of events foreshadowed relative to the story's narrative present. For example, before Necip's death during the first Sunay Zaim play, we are told that he will be shot through the eye—with even a sort of countdown of the minutes until his death. Similar foreshadowing portends Ka's own death, the disappearance of Ka's poems, and so on.

A lot of things in Kars—particularly pertaining to politics and public safety—are understated. For example, at the beginning of the novel, when Ka first arrives, the police chief suggests that Ka be tailed by plainclothes officers "just in case" (13). This is an understated way of pointing out that the city is dangerous without directly addressing the fact in front of an outsider. Similarly, much acting and posturing is done by the people of Kars to attempt and keep the obvious tensions and discord hidden.

The story alludes to many authors and musicians in order to establish the realism of Ka's life and tastes, as well as build up the universe of other characters. To name just a few where Ka is concerned, allusions to Turgenev and modernist poets abound in the novel. Where others are concerned, consider how Sunay Zaim references "The Spanish Tragedy," or how Peppino di Capri's "Roberta" (a song that longs for an ex-lover, just as Ka will one day long for the lost Ipek) recurs in the text to set a melodramatic mood.

The imagery deployed by Pamuk in the text is particularly rich and varied. As an example, consider how, across various scenes, Pamuk is able to expand and evolve the meaning of snow, first using it as a reminder of Ka's childhood innocence, then branching out from this point to have snow encompass secrecy, obfuscation, togetherness, individuality, and uniformity, all at once.

One paradox that Ka himself notes in the text is that pain and pleasure mutually magnify each other's sensation and feel. Particularly, as he writes the poem entitled "Dog," he thinks about how a dog terrorizing him made the joys of his childhood all the more keenly felt. This is also why it is only within the impoverished and volatile milieu of Kars that he is able to fully be vulnerable and happy with Ipek.

Many clear parallels are established in the text to create a sense of predestination or fate linking the characters. Consider, for example, the parallels between Ka and Necip, or perhaps the parallels between Ka and Orhan. Another important effect of these parallels is that, when two similar characters diverge in their fates—as when Necip is suddenly killed—it makes the reader feel such events all the more dramatically.

As part of the text's deployment of euphemism and doublespeak, metonymy is also widely used, as when "Ankara" is substituted for the central government of Turkey.

Personification is not widely used in the text, but a great deal of description in the novel does the opposite—that is, linking things in the human world to natural phenomena.