The story, "Snow", by Julia Alvarez is both terror and beauty. Alvarez incorporates a difficult topic into a beautiful story. It is about a young immigrant and a girl from name Yolanda who has just moved to New York with her family. Unfortunately, Yolanda soon learns enough English to learn that "the holocaust was in the air". Alvarez connects this story to her personal life, explains what is happening in the story, and easily relates to the reader. Say No to Plagiarism Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"?Alvarez was born in New York, but shortly after her birth she moved to the Dominican Republic where she and her family lived for ten years After these ten years, the Alvarez family moved back to New York City, which might as well have been new to mint for Julia Alvarez as she was a newborn when she first left the country. In his story, Alvarez explains what it means to move to a “new” place and the adjustments he has experienced. She describes herself (Yolanda) as the only immigrant in her class, where she received grandmother-like care from her teacher, Sister Zoe. Sister Zoe represents a new beginning for Yolanda. She was given special attention by being placed near the window, so she could learn quickly without interruptions. Shortly after starting to learn new words in English, such as the word "snow", Yolanda learns about the Cuban missile crisis. One day, after Sister Zoe explained to the children what a bomb looked like, Yolanda saw “dots in the air like the ones Sister Zoe had drawn.” He thought he saw a bomb, but his spirits lifted when his sister Zoe explained that she wasn't seeing a bomb. He saw snow for the first time. Sister Zoe then explained further to Yolanda: "Each bow was different, like a person, irreplaceable and beautiful." In this, Alvarez is painting a beautiful picture of how she went through a tough time but came out on the other side stronger and better. She learned that even though bad things may happen, you can still find beauty and joy in the small moments. Without looking deeper, the main part of the story that emerges is what American children experienced during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Alvarez explains what children had to do to survive in the event of an attack in New York City. She sets a very disturbing tone with her diction, such as when she describes the Catholic school nuns as "stocky women in long black dresses and hats that made them look peculiar, like mourning dolls." Since this line comes at the beginning of the story, it seems like a darker tone has been set for the story. The same feeling is evoked when he continues to say later that: “At school we did anti-aircraft drills: an ominous bell would ring and we would cover our heads with our coats and imagine that our hair would fall out, the bones in our arms would soften” . It's quite disheartening to sit back and think about the fact that this actually happened to children. Perhaps one of Alvarez's goals with this story is to evoke such deep and sad emotion for these children and future children that those responsible will think twice before doing it again. However, spirits are lifted when Yolanda is told that she is seeing something beautiful (snow) rather than something threatening (bomb). At this point in the story the tone has changed from disturbing to positive, reinforcing the point that good can be found in evil if you allow yourself to see it. All in all, this story connects with me on one level:10.2307/467749