Being American, learning English, and atomic power are all intertwined in her impressionable mind. The impact of American education is not positive upon Yolanda's development, although she does learn English. Along with learning English, she learns to be afraid. Every time there is an air raid Yolanda contemplates her own death, her "hair falling out" from radiation, or the bones in her arms growing soft, or her whole body evaporating into mist, like the snow that will accompany an attack.

When Yolanda first sees snow, it is not a happy, wondrous sight. She is terrified that the United States is being attacked. She does not know that snow can be frozen rain, or something to play in, because her teachers have been so intent upon preparing her for an atomic attack. She misunderstands not just the word "snow" but also what snow can mean in different contexts. Learning English and learning about the bomb are fused in Yolanda's mind, so she cannot see snow in an innocent way, as an American child should see...

The story is an allegory about the moral corruption of America, as seen through the eyes of one child. America is mistranslated to Yolanda as a place of fear. Rather than the good aspects of America, because of the fear that is pervading this supposedly free country, Yolanda can only see the negative aspects of her new life. Instead of seeing beauty, Yolanda sees her own death when she sees snow. Instead of showing the good parts about living in America to this recent immigrant, because of America's obsession with the Bomb, communism, and nuclear war, America cannot even teach a young girl how to make snow angels in the winder. Radioactive snow is the only America Yolanda can see, even when she is learning about something as innocent as the seasons in her Catholic school.
Works Cited

Alvarez, Julia. "Snow." From How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents. New York:

Plume, 1992