???The fairy tale begins as a simple story told by Gemma to her 3 granddaughters. However, the reader becomes aware that a darker truth lies beneath the fairy tale.??? Gemma told the story Briar Rose as one way of looking at the dreadful reality or otherwise to appalling to contemplate. She could not communicate such experiences directly to her. Through the telling of the story, however, she can make them see the inner horrors of her experiences, and the improbable wonder of her survival. The fairy tale also helps her make sense of her own experiences, explaining them to herself. In her retelling, Gemma frequently uses the traditional phrases Once upon a time and lived happily ever after. But it is clear to the reader that she personalises the material in such a way as to link it with the nightmarish events of her wartime life.
Yolen uses a variety of language features and techniques to emphasize on the themes, events and nature of the truth of Gemma??™s story.
* Allegory /Metaphor write my essay 4 me reviews
The narrative is not just symbols. She has constructed the whole story as an allegory – a text whose whole plot is in itself symbolic. Gemma has obviously used the story of Sleeping Beauty to disguise the truth, but clearly fixed within her story are despair, pain and an enduring sense of loss. Thus, the story is not only a allegory but also a metaphor that relates to the real past and events of the Holocaust. In her quest, Becca is able to uncover these truths and to share her knowledge with her family. Text shows contradictory but also parallel worlds. As Gemma admits to Becca prior to her death, I am Briar Rose. We learn that her early life was marked by acts of courage, resilience, endurance and determination against forces so inhuman and evil that they almost defy understanding. Real story is one about victims and survivors. Like many allegorical tales, it tells of good triumphing over evil, of a contented life won only after life-threatening difficulties and dangers have been overcome. Some parallels between Briar rose and reality are; Briar rose is Gemma in reality as she is given the name princess and she has a crown of red hair and also the ???bad fairy??? is Hitler and the Nazi soldiers.
* Narrative structure ??“ THE WAY INWHICH THE TEXT IS WRITTEN
Briar Rose has a complex narrative structure. Yolen interweaves at least three major strands into her plot, and uses voices of different types to add an interesting variety to the narrative. The placement of sections of the never-completed fairy story at intervals through the narrative, adds suspense and mystery to the novel.
* Intertexuality
Intertextuality is the idea that a given text is a response to what has already been written, be it open or hidden. Yolen uses the Briar Rose story to shape, and add resonance to, their presentation of modern life. The shape of her story is to tell a narrative in the present, but insert flashbacks in the form of fairly tale. Gemmas changing of the details to suit her story simply echoes what oral retellers have always done with fairy tales. At the same time the references to traditional mythic texts give the story a universal aspect.
* Juxtaposition is putting things side by side for comparison
The story was written to juxtapose the present-day story with the fairy tale that Gemma tells them. In the book, every odd chapter (except for within the Castle) is a flashback to Beccas childhood in which Gemma tells her story to her grandchildren. The reader is taken to discover why Gemma only tells one story.
* Symbolism is a representation of a concept
The mist in Gemmas version of the fairy tale stands, in the first place, for the exhaust gas used to kill the Holocaust victims at Chelmno.
The sleep of the people of the castle is the sleep of death – it is forever.
But symbols often have a cluster of connotations. The mist may also stand for the imperfect knowledge Gemma and her family has of the events of her past, which they only dimly understand. The briars can also represent the difficulties to be overcome by love to reach the desired object. The sleep also perhaps suggests a lack of consciousness about what was going on.
* Fairytale motif
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text??™s major themes. Repetition and echoing of fairytale, Briar Rose, motif reinforces the message of the novel as it is the truth of Gemmas identity.
* Imagery
Repetition of images and words (eg. roses, mist, castle) are used to link the double narratives. Each of Gemmas retellings contributes a piece of the puzzle that eventually forms a whole. Each of the chapters on Gemma repeats elements from the Sleeping Beauty story but also adds new layers of meaning.
* Setting/s
There are several settings to this story because of the flashback technique that the author uses to heighten the emotional impact of Gemmas story.? The story concerns Gemmas granddaughters, Becca, search for Gemmas mysterious past the finding of which appear in flashbacks to Gemmas life.? Beccas search takes her to modern day Chelmo, Poland learn of her Grandmothers horrifying experiences at the hand of the Nazis.? The flashbacks take place in Poland during the Holocaust.? The switch between the same present and the fairytale like evil of the Nazi world,give the story its extreme emotional punch. Instead of merely hearing a description of Gemmas experiences, the reader gets to see it through her perspective.?
In conclusion, Gemma the protagonist of the novel Briar Rose tells the fairytale to her 3 granddaughters as a way of as a way of looking at an awful experience that is too horrible to consider and also to communicate such experiences directly to her family. Jane Yolen has used a range of language techniques, such as allegory, a fairytale motif and an unusual narrative structure to compare the fairytale, Briar Rose, and the historical events.
