Frozen heart
In short: A motif that makes Kay’s emotional change visible in The Snow Queen.
Motif
How does it work in the tale?
Fragments of a broken mirror change how Kay sees and feels. The thaw begins when Gerda finds him. Cold marks both a place and the distance that has opened between them.
How do ice and glass affect Kay?
In Andersen’s Snow Queen, fragments of a mirror reach Kay’s eye and heart. In the ice palace, arranging pieces of ice to spell a word seems more important to him than anything else. Gerda’s arrival turns the story from the puzzle back to the bond between the children. Notice what Kay pays attention to as the scene changes.