Wilgowicz discusses the theme of whiteness as an aspect of femininity and of the mother. She explores certain literary works for this theme, examining Anderson's fairy tale, "The Snow Queen," E. T. H. Hoffmann's "The Sandman," Moby Dick, The Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym, and Jensen's Gradiva. The theme of the white goddess was discerned by Robert Graves in classical mythology. Wilgowicz also considers some clinical material in which the theme appeared. She links this theme of the white lady to the work of Lewin on the dream screen, and the work of André Green on the negative hallucination and the dead mother.