63 pages • 2 hours read
Jo NesbøThe Snowman
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Cochineal
In several places in the text, Harry refers to cochineal, a natural red pigment made from insects, which is used in everything from food to cosmetics. This color appears mostly alongside the character Rakel, to whom Harry connects he pigment because it is the color of Campari, Rakel’s favorite drink, and “she liked to dress in bright red” (36). Rakel recognizes her predilection for dressing in red and “claimed that she used it as a warning, the way animals use strong colors to tell others to keep their distance” (36). Her use of red to hint at danger is indicative of Rakel’s personality and power.
Although cochineal often signals Rakel’s power throughout the novel, the color appears at the end when Rakel is most powerless. When Harry finds Rakel after she has been set in a deadly position by Mathias, “She was wearing a dress. Crimson. Like Campari. She was ‘cochineal.’ Her head strained toward the ceiling as though she were standing by a fence trying to see over, and from this position she stared down and out at him” (468). As this color saturates this scene in which Rakel almost dies, Nesbø also connects the motif to sexuality, given Mathias’s motivation for murdering married mothers.
Although cochineal is mainly connected to Rakel in the text, Harry also finds a connection when they discover Idar Vetlesen, dead of apparent suicide. In his hand, they find “The syringe Vetlesen had used was still coated in red after the poison, showing that it had been full. As red as cochineal. My darling, cochineal” (229). Because this color holds such a strong place in Harry’s mind, an idea comes to him that night while he is sleeping, and “he had woken up the next day with an idea that must have been conceived somewhere between the systematic emptying of the whiskey bottle and the pitiless moment of awakening. The idea of cochineal and of Vetlesen’s full syringe” (240). This connection helps Harry solve the mystery of Idar’s death and conclude that it was not, in fact, suicide.
The Mold Man
At the beginning of The Snowman, a man appears at Harry’s door, saying that he found mold in the neighboring apartment and wants to inspect Harry’s apartment as well. Harry hands over the keys to his apartment and the mold man becomes a present absence, as each day when Harry returns home, he sees signs of the mold man’s progress but encounters the man very seldom. However, as the novel continues, suspicion grows that the mold man might have some connection to the case Harry is investigating, or in fact, may be the Snowman himself. This idea comes to a head when Harry mentions the mold man to Ali, the building association president, who knows nothing about a mold inspection of the apartments.
An offhand note by the mold man, however, actually gives Harry the perspective he needs to unravel the entire Snowman mystery: “When blood gets into untreated wood it’s impossible to wash off. The alternative would have been to paint the wall red” (395). This idea reminds Harry about the third chicken the Snowman killed at Sylvia’s house. Harry had never understood why, but the mold man’s note makes him realize that the Snowman had killed the chicken to cover up his own blood. After this realization, Harry unravels the mystery of the Snowman’s identity quickly. Although the mold man’s presence seems ominous for the better part of the novel, in the end, he becomes a positive force for the investigation.
The mold man is given the final word in the novel when he says, “That’s the thing about mold. You can’t see it’s there. […] But it is” (492). With this statement, it becomes clear that the mold man and his work also operate as a metaphor for the invisible rot and corruption that can exist beneath a seemingly clean surface. Nesbø touches upon this topic in the context of politics, the media, the police, and even family life. His exploration of this idea follows a convention of the Nordic noir genre, which often deals with corruption, hypocrisy, and moral ambiguity in societal institutions.
Katrine’s Eyes
Katrine Bratt has secrets, and those secrets, which drive her investigation, appear as a fire deep in her eyes, a motif that continues to offer clues to Harry about her true character and agenda. For example, when the police are at the Fenris bar, celebrating the belief that they have found the Snowman, he notices, “Her eyes seemed to be smoldering, yellow and blurred, like the fog lights on an approaching car” (227). Although this fire is present throughout the text, it shifts according to Katrine’s state of mind.
The next time that Harry sees this fire is when he and Katrine are confronting Filip Becker, believing that he is the Snowman: “She had lowered her gun, and she smiled at him with a curious gleam in her eyes. The coals deep inside seemed to be smoldering” (266). This fire appears in Katrine’s eyes again when she attacks Arve Støp—when she feels herself getting close to finding the Snowman and clearing her father’s name, her eyes take on a “strange yellow gleam” (335).
Although Harry sees the fire in her eyes, he doesn’t understand the significance until he discovers that Gert Rafto is her father. Harry knows then that this fire buried in Katrine represents her passion for finding the Snowman, clearing her father’s name, and solving the mystery of his disappearance. When he finds her at her family cabin, after she runs from Arve’s apartment, “Harry could see the gleam in her eyes, the very same he had seen when they arrested Becker, the very same he had seen in Fenris Bar. But sparks were flying from the quivering irises. Harry retreated until he felt the seat at the stern against his legs” (381). Harry realizes that this fire is now out of anyone’s control, even Katrine’s, and he fears for his safety.
After Katrine is taken into custody, Kjersti Rødsmoen sees only the remnants of the fire that has fueled Katrine’s investigation since she was 19 and joined the Bergen police force: “what Kjersti Rødsmoen saw made her think of one of those orange cards in the game of Monopoly she had in her vacation house: Your houses and hotels have all burned down” (398). Katrine has been driven to the brink by her need to clear her father’s name and capture the Snowman, but now that her plan has failed, the fire in her eyes has been extinguished, leaving only rubble.
