Human Emotions In The Ice Queen, By Alice Hoffman

A connection of nature and human emotions exist within us. You may wish to explore the fire and ice motifs used throughout, as well as the idea that nature is an independent force beyond our control which changes the pattern of our lives. Without a doubt, nature can represent and affect emotions like loneliness. Alice Hoffman’s novel The ice queen is centered around people who are very different, who are on the edge of society and are often lonely people standing back from the crowd. She shows us the feeling of loneliness that lies at the core of being human as well as deep dark secrets and pain we wish to hide from others. And by connecting the main character who from her accident is as cold as ice and her partner who is the opposite of her

She starts to question herself and what she use to believe when it came to wishes, that way she was living and her past. The line that says “Tell me the truth. Do you believe a wish can kill? Do you believe we could have changed something that night, stopped the ice from falling, stopped our mother from getting in her car? If we'd run along the road till she turned around, woken from sleep and called the police with a premonition, would she still be alive? Tell me, brother, could we have done anything differently you and I?” (Hoffman 163) Here she is wondering if only she could have done something back then, her mother might still be alive. Her mother was killed in a car accident because of slick icy roads, the cold could be considered as a sad emotional feeling full of loneliness from the loss of her mother. Even though it wasn't really her fault that her mother died, she still blames herself because she wished that she would like to not see her mother again because she didn’t like when her mom left to work and left her by herself. Furthermore, as her feelings grow stronger and stronger for her lover, she starts wondering what is the true meaning of love or if the only reason she feels affection towards her lover is because she is “ice” and he is “fire” and fate connected them because they have opposite poles. She confirms this with the line that says “What is the difference between love and obsession? Didn't both make you stay up all night, wandering the streets, a victim of your own imagination, your own heart beat? Didn't you fall into both, head first into quicksand? Wasn't every man in love a fool and every woman a slave? Love was like rain: it turned to ice; or it disappeared.” (hoffman 140) Here she is comparing love with rain, how it can be as strong as ice or it can disappear as quickly when it melts. By comparing her emotions with water which is part of the four main