The Snowstorm

Tetyana Yosypiv
The Snowstorm
“The Snowstorm” by Alexander Pushkin tells a familiar tale of star crossed lovers who are attempting to run away from their parent’s disapproval and elope but find themselves stuck in a snow storm, after which fate takes its course. The snowstorm being the central symbol of the story plays two roles in the short story. On one side, it prevented Marya and Vladimir from marrying each other and tested their love. While the young couple had plenty of reservations of not getting married, they decided to run away to a town nearby Zhadrino, and elope. The events of Marya getting sick before running away, nightmares of Vladimir dying and her father stopping her, should have put second thoughts into her mind, but the snowstorm was the last straw to separate the love. As Marya was escaping her home, Pushkin wrote “The snowstorm did not abate; the wind blew against them as though trying to stop the young criminal.” Nature was trying warn Marya and Vladimir to stop and reconsider their actions. For Vladimir, the snowstorm put him on the wrong path to Zhadrino and he ended up eight miles away from the town he was supposed to meet Marya in. By the time Vladimir makes it to the church, it’s already morning and the church is locked. Marya does make it to the church on time, but her fate ended up taking over. The second side to the snowstorm being a symbol is that it guided true love to fulfilled. She would be married to another gentleman by the name of Burmin who by accident ends up in the church because of the snowstorm and everyone thinks he is Vladimir. The two are wed off, but when Marya realizes he is not Vladimir, she faints. As Marya returns home, she becomes sick and her parents finally approve of Vladimir so she can get better. Unfortunately, Vladimir refuses to visit her and ends up enlisting in the Army. After years pass by, Marya finds Burmin but they both do not remember each other. As the story unravels, he tells Marya he cannot marry