Chapter 10: It's More Than Just Rain or Snow

In Jodi Picoult's The Tenth Circle, weather, or more specifically, snow and ice, plays a very important role. There is nothing but cold and wet in the entire story, as the novel takes place in a wintry Maine, and later, Alaska. The weather helps set the tone of the novel: cold, cruel, harsh, unforgiving. With themes such as rape, murder, suicide, and adultery, it's no wonder that freezing, chilling weather was chosen to be in the background.

Trixie Stone, all within the first few chapters, has to weather (nice pun, right?) the hardships of being raped, resorting to self-mutilation, and learning of her mother's unfaithfulness to her father, Daniel. The snow, just like the awful crime of rape, is forceful and relentless and can be extremely cruel. Trixie's cutting on the other hand, to her, is a refreshing method of cleansing her mind and subtracting from her pain. It's fresh and new, and makes her feel better, while in reality it is only harming her. The snow, likewise, is a beautiful, cleansing blanket, fresh and clean with a tendency to please people and make them feel a little bit of magic, but people forget that snow can ruthlessly kill when it's power is forgotten. Snow's ability to turn from beauty to cruelty, a betrayal of sorts, parallels the implications of Laura Stone's affair: a betrayal to her husband and daughter.

Later, suicide and murder enter the scene, as Trixie's rapist is found dead, splayed across the ice coating the river, which ultimately caused his death. At first, suicide seems to be the answer. But after new evidence is uncovered, it is apparent that Jason was, in fact, murdered. The two methods of death are, of course, cold and bleak, enhanced by the presence of snow, and the role that the ice played in the death of Jason.

When Trixie can longer handle living in the small town where everyone knows her past and where she is surrounded by horrible memories, she heads to the most remote place she can think of: the tiny Alaskan village in which her father grew up. Being during the dead of winter, the whole of Alaska is blanketed in snow and plagued by blizzard. The blizzard fits in perfectly with the story, as it characterizes exactly what Trixie feels inside: turmoil, ice, hatred, fear. An endless stream of harsh, cold feelings.