Churchman 1
Dane Churchman
Eng 111
Professor Stavreva
24 October 2020
Trauma Portrayed in “Boy, Snow, Bird” through the Use of Literary Elements
● I would have liked to devote more time to Oyeyimi’s theme and structure being aligned
with not only European lore, but also African-American lore. I would have liked to dive
into the African tale of the rat catcher to understand Boy Novak’s father/mother better.
● The most exciting part of this assignment was seeing how intricate Oyeyeimi’s work was.
She taught me a lot of psychological pain and how that affects an individual in the future.
I also learned how she used many different elements of literature to depict the character’s
image and deliver an excellent storytelling performance.
● My most useable feedback was using a reverse outline to create my thesis and connect/tie
my paragraphs back together.
Churchman 2
Many authors and critics have studied fairy tales throughout time in order to better
understand the messages that might be found there. In order to do this, they must also recognize
the unique structure that is used to frame a fairy tale. Fairy tales are an art form in and of
themselves. In fairy tales, the characters are on a fast track to social justice and happily-ever-
after. They always get the better of villains, get ahead of others to win rewards and get even.
While this is not what is necessarily found in real life, it does appeal to our ‘absolute instinctive
judgment of what is good and just’ (Tatar 179). An example of one author’s study of fairy tales
is “Boy, Snow, Bird” by contemporary author, Helen Oyeyemi. Within Oyeyemi’s novel, known
fairy tales are reshaped and adapted in order to explain their underlying point. Classic fairy tales
extend to the reader an invitation to reset the story, develop the characters, fill the time gaps in
the story, and ultimately, create a new version of that tale with a different twist/message (Tatar
