René’s snow snake

René’s snow snake is a wooden toy that carries family memory across separation and loss. Its passage from a childhood game to an object retrieved from René’s house connects the siblings’ shared past to their uncertain effort to remain together and retain a home.

Origin and Family Memory

The siblings remember a winter when they gave René a snake and taught him to play snow snakes. He was so absorbed in the game that he did not want to stop when dusk came. Claude Trépagny threw the first snake into the fire; their mother carved René a better one, which could slide far. In this recollection, the toy marks both a moment of childhood pleasure and the care their mother showed René after his first plaything was destroyed.

The exchange occurs as the siblings remember René as a good man and speak of their shared blood. Elphège listens while Theotiste argues that the children of one mother should be together. The snow snake is not merely a keepsake from René’s childhood: its story helps give material form to the kinship the siblings invoke as they consider bringing their family together.

Recovery from René’s House

When Achille and Theotiste return to René’s property with Jean Mague, Theotiste runs ahead before the house comes into sight. He retrieves something from a particular place, puts it in his pack basket, and hurries to warn Elphège and his sisters that Mague is coming. At the house, he reaches to a high shelf and takes down René’s old snow snake.

The retrieval places the toy amid a tense encounter over possession of the property. Mague has agreed to see René’s sturdy French house, cleared land, and potash kettle; he approaches with his gun and regards the property as something he might possess. In contrast to this scrutiny of land and goods, the snow snake is recovered as a personal remnant of René and his family. Its presence on the high shelf, and Theotiste’s deliberate act of taking it, preserve a connection that the newcomer’s possessive gaze does not recognize.

Significance

The object’s meaning gathers through recurrence: first it is remembered as a gift and a replacement made by their mother, then it is found again in the house associated with René. The siblings’ recollection emphasizes continuity—one toy was lost, but their mother made another; René is gone, but the object remains available to be recovered. The snow snake thus gives the family’s appeal to shared blood a tangible form, linking childhood affection to the practical struggle over where the surviving siblings can make a home.