"The Sunlight dripped over the house like a golden paint over an art jar, and freckling shadows here and there only intensified the rigor of the bath of light."
The Ice Palace, a quick summary by me...
A girl from the south thinks she wants to change her life. She decides to marry a northern man. Her southern beaus are not happy.
She goes to visit her fiance in Minnesota during the Winter Carnival in January. When it is cold. She doesn't like it...too cold.
She goes to the Ice Palace and gets trapped. She feels like she is entombed in the ice.
She realizes that she prefers the South and all that it stands for.
She realizes that she prefers the South and all that it stands for.
My thoughts on the Ice Palace...
It seems to me this story is about the differences between the North and South as experienced by young lovers.
Sally Carrol Happer starts out excited about her trip up north to visit Harry Bellamy. But once she gets there, she soon learns that this is a very different world than what she knows from the south. To her the northern women are listless and dull. The North is a world where there seems to be no history or character. It is hard and cold, it is male and "canine" and ugly.
Sally Carrol, feeling like an outsider, finds a kindred spirit in a transplanted professor, Roger Patton. He has a very cynical take on the Northern inhabitants. His theory is they are "freezing up", "growing like swedes-Ibenesque", they are "gradually getting gloomy and melancholy". I think this exchange between Sally Carrol and Roger Patton is how she finally sees the North. She will not be able to warm up and fit in. Roger just gave her the words to her thoughts.
Harry Bellamy, however views it in a very different way. To him the North is an industrious, "mans country", with a "wonderful climate" that is "bracing and invigorating" with a "pep in the air".
This difference is highlighted in the exchange between Sally Carrol and Harry, when after seeing a man with baggy pants. Harry declares he must be a Southerner. he says, in short, they are degenerates, living so long in the south they have become "lazy and shiftless". Sally Carrol chimes in that they are only lazy because of the climate, anyone would be.
After living in many different climates and places, I have come to believe you like what you know, you may complain about it when you are there, but you look forward to the "extremes" and culture. It is simply what you know.
Sally Carrol Happer starts out excited about her trip up north to visit Harry Bellamy. But once she gets there, she soon learns that this is a very different world than what she knows from the south. To her the northern women are listless and dull. The North is a world where there seems to be no history or character. It is hard and cold, it is male and "canine" and ugly.
Sally Carrol, feeling like an outsider, finds a kindred spirit in a transplanted professor, Roger Patton. He has a very cynical take on the Northern inhabitants. His theory is they are "freezing up", "growing like swedes-Ibenesque", they are "gradually getting gloomy and melancholy". I think this exchange between Sally Carrol and Roger Patton is how she finally sees the North. She will not be able to warm up and fit in. Roger just gave her the words to her thoughts.
Harry Bellamy, however views it in a very different way. To him the North is an industrious, "mans country", with a "wonderful climate" that is "bracing and invigorating" with a "pep in the air".
This difference is highlighted in the exchange between Sally Carrol and Harry, when after seeing a man with baggy pants. Harry declares he must be a Southerner. he says, in short, they are degenerates, living so long in the south they have become "lazy and shiftless". Sally Carrol chimes in that they are only lazy because of the climate, anyone would be.
After living in many different climates and places, I have come to believe you like what you know, you may complain about it when you are there, but you look forward to the "extremes" and culture. It is simply what you know.
I, personally, find this story extremely interesting. I was raised and lived in a St.Paul suburb (MN) for 27 years. My family are all proud Scandinavian descents. Also, the first time I read this story I was living in Augusta Georgia. So in some ways, I was experiencing the south from northern eyes the way Sally Carrol was viewing the north through southern eyes. And I will say that I find the south lacking much the same that Sally Carrol finds the north, it is just not in my blood.
The St. Paul Winter Carnival
You may be surprised to know that the Ice Palace that Fitzgerald wrote about was real, not created as an analogy to the cold winters of the north. Here are some photos of the 1917 Ice Palace in St. Paul. This is most likely the setting of the short story. (The earlier picture is of the 1896 palace)
The celebrations have been held in January ever since (except during WWII)to honor the hardiness and spirit of its inhabitants.
Ice Palaces or castle are not built every year. The last one being in 2004
Read The Ice Palace online Here
photo source: Winter Carnival Fan Club
I just finished this wonderful story by F. Scott Fitzgerald and turned to the web to read more about another story that I loved, "The Popular Girl." I enjoyed your post on "The Ice Palace" and especially enjoyed the pictures of the real-life ice palaces from 1896 and 1917. Having lived in both the south and the north, I can relate to the themes in this story.
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