The poem uses snow as a way of conveying the unknown. Yolanda is a curious hispanic girl who had never seen snow before.

Judging by the title and the first paragraph, I had no idea the poem was truly about the cuban missile crisis. The poem sets up a regular new student going to a catholic school in New York City. The poem Snow, by Julia Alvarez, somehow managed to subvert my expectations. It is very difficult to learn new words but Yolanda was able to accomplish that and already began applying them to things she saw. Many people talk about growth and expanding themselves but not all of those people actually do it. In educational settings, people often refer to growth when motivating students to reach goals. On social media, people speak of growing into more open-minded people or growing with a romantic partner. In today’s society, growth is a popular desire. Yolanda’s application shows the growth of her own vocabulary and ideas. When she saw snow, she thought it was a bomb because of what she pictured fallout to look like. The protagonist gained a general understanding of what a bomb was and then applied it to her life. She had a poor concept of what both snow and a bomb was, however, this story shows her own personal growth.

When Yolanda first came from the Dominican Republic to the United States as a young child, she knew almost no English. After learning that she was seeing snow for the first time, she paid close attention to it - noticing that each snowflake was different from the other. Because of the constant speak of bombs, when Yolanda saw snow - a new concept to her - she mistook it for the fallout from a bomb. It was common to have air-raid drills in school where they would practice what to do during a potential bombing. She learned words pertaining to bomb scares like nuclear bomb, radioactive fallout, and bomb shelter, as well as words used in everyday life like laundromat, subway, and cereal. The main character, Yolanda, attended a Catholic school and learned many new things - specifically, she gained many new words in her vocabulary. In Julia Alvarez’s story titled Snow, a woman reminisces on her experience as an elementary-age immigrant in New York during the Cuban Missile Crisis. But, because the people in the school were lucky to have provisions that would help them through the winter, they were able to innocently enjoy the snow and bask in the wonder and beauty of it all, oblivious to what battles their neighbors could be fighting. The snow wouldn't have affected any of them very much, but for people who weren't as fortunate to have homes or warm clothes, the snow means a time of terrible hardship and usually death since they don't have the money for health care. The way everyone laughs it off could also be trying to reveal the fact that we tend to ignore dangers that we can't clearly see or don't directly impact us. Snow isn't inherently dangerous, but if it gets cold enough, it could cause hypothermia or frostbite and lead to death. The juxtaposition could also be hinting at a darker side to snow which is that it kills. Bombs cover everything with ash while snow covers everything with, well, snow. Alvarez perfectly captured the wonder of a child seeing snow for the first time, not only by using beautiful language and describing it as '.white crystals that fell out of American skies in the winter,' but also by adding a little humor when she reveals Yolanda thought the snow were bombs. Since I was only used to mild to extreme heat, I hated snow (and still do). Looking out from a window, I thought it was the most magical thing, but once I stepped outside I was freezing. Because I grew up in Africa, I'd never seen snow until I was about 7 years old living in London. While reading Snow by Julia Alvarez, I was reminded of the first time I saw snow.

Dusting by julia alvarez