Module B
Close Study of Text
Briar Rose
Jane Yolen
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Board of Studies Requirements
This module requires students to engage in a detailed analysis of text. It develops students’
understanding of how the ideas, forms and language of a text interact within the text
and may affect those responding to it.
Students engage with the text to respond imaginatively, affectively and critically. They
explore and analyse particular characteristics of the text, considering how these shape
meaning. They also consider the ways in which these characteristics establish the text’s
distinctive qualities. Composition focuses on meaning shaped in and through the text. These
compositions may be realised in a variety of forms and media.
(Stage 6 Syllabus, English, Preliminary and HSC Courses, pp. 33-34)
We
Language Forms and Features
Term
Allegory
Definition
Intertextuality
Symbolism
Irony
Characterisation
Narrative Perspective
Read the following versions of the Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty fairy
tale.
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What are the main features and events of each narrative?
Little Brier-Rose
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
A king and queen had no children, although they wanted one very much. Then one day while
the queen was sitting in her bath, a crab crept out of the water onto the ground and said,
"Your wish will soon be fulfilled, and you will bring a daughter into the world." And that is
what happened.
The king was so happy about the birth of the princess that he held a great celebration. He also
invited the fairies who lived in his kingdom, but because he had only twelve golden plates,
one had to be left out, for there were thirteen of them.
The fairies came to the celebration, and as it was ending they presented the child with gifts.
The one promised her virtue, the second one gave beauty, and so on, each one offering
something desirable and magnificent. The eleventh fairy had just presented her gift when the
thirteenth fairy walked in. She was very angry that she had not been invited and cried out,
"Because you did not invite me, I tell you that in her fifteenth year, your daughter will prick
herself with a spindle and fall over dead."
The parents were horrified, but the twelfth fairy, who had not yet offered her wish, said, "It
shall not be her death. She will only fall into a hundred-year sleep." The king, hoping to
rescue his dear child, issued an order that all spindles in the entire kingdom should be
destroyed.
The princess grew and became a miracle of beauty. One day, when she had just reached her
fifteenth year, the king and queen went away, leaving her all alone in the castle. She walked
from room to room, following her heart's desire. Finally she came to an old tower. A narrow
stairway led up to it. Being curious, she climbed up until she came to a small door. There was
a small yellow key in the door. She turned it, and the door sprang open. She found herself in a
small room where an old woman sat spinning flax. She was attracted to the old woman, and
joked with her, and said that she too would like to try her hand at spinning. She picked up the
spindle, but no sooner did she touch it, than she pricked herself with it and then fell down into
a deep sleep.
At that same moment the king and his attendants returned and everyone began to fall asleep:
the horses in the stalls, the pigeons on the roof, the dogs in the courtyard, and the flies on the
walls. Even the fire on the hearth flickered, stopped moving, and fell asleep. The roast
stopped sizzling. The cook let go of the kitchen boy, whose hair he was about to pull. The
maid dropped the chicken that she was plucking. They all slept. And a thorn hedge grew up
around the entire castle, growing higher and higher, until nothing at all could be seen of it.
Princes, who had heard about the beautiful Brier-Rose, came and tried to free her, but they
could not penetrate the hedge. It was as if the thorns were firmly attached to hands. The
princes became stuck in them, and they died miserably. And thus it continued for many long
years.
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Then one day a prince was traveling through the land. An old man told him about the belief
that there was a castle behind the thorn hedge, with a wonderfully beautiful princess asleep
inside with all of her attendants. His grandfather had told him that many princes had tried to
penetrate the hedge, but that they had gotten stuck in the thorns and had been pricked to
death.
"I'm not afraid of that," said the prince. "I shall penetrate the hedge and free the beautiful
Brier-Rose."
He went forth, but when he came to the thorn hedge, it turned into flowers. They separated,
and he walked through, but after he passed, they turned back into thorns. He went into the
castle. Horses and colorful hunting dogs were asleep in the courtyard. Pigeons, with their
little heads stuck under the wings, were sitting on the roof. As he walked inside, the flies on
the wall, the fire in the kitchen, the cook and the maid were all asleep. He walked further. All
the attendants were asleep; and still further, the king and the queen. It was so quiet that he
could hear his own breath.
Finally he came to the old tower where Brier-Rose was lying asleep. The prince was so
amazed at her beauty that he bent over and kissed her. At that moment she awoke, and with
her the king and the queen, and all the attendants, and the horses and the dogs, and the
pigeons on the roof, and the flies on the walls. The fire stood up and flickered, and then
finished cooking the food. The roast sizzled away. The cook boxed the kitchen boy's ears.
And the maid finished plucking the chicken. Then the prince and Brier-Rose got married, and
they lived long and happily until they died.
Sleeping Beauty (Disney based his film on this version)
Once upon a time there was a Queen who had a beautiful baby daughter. She asked all the
fairies in the kingdom to the christening, but unfortunately forgot to invite one of them, who
was a bit of a witch as well. She came anyway, but as she passed the baby's cradle, she said:
"When you are sixteen, you will injure yourself with a spindle and die!"
"Oh, no!" screamed the Queen in horror. A good fairy quickly chanted a magic spell to
change the curse. When she hurt herself, the girl would fall into a very deep sleep instead of
dying.
The years went by; the little Princess grew and became the most beautiful girl in the whole
kingdom. Her mother was always very careful to keep her away from spindles, but the
Princess, on her sixteenth birthday, as she wandered through the castle, came into a room
where an old servant was spinning.
"What are you doing?" she asked the servant.
"I'm spinning. Haven't you seen a spindle before?"
"No. Let me see it!" The servant handed the girl the spindle ... and she pricked herself with it
and. with a sigh, dropped to the floor.
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The terrified old woman hurried to tell the Queen. Beside herself with anguish, the Queen did
her best to awaken her daughter but in vain. The court doctors and wizards were called, but
there was nothing they could do. The girl could not be wakened from her deep sleep. The
good fairy who managed to avoid the worst of the curse came too, and the Queen said to her,
"When will my daughter waken?"
"I don't know," the fairy admitted sadly.
"In a year's time, ten years or twenty?" the Queen went on.
"Maybe in a hundred years' time. Who knows?" said the fairy.
"Oh! What would make her waken?" asked the Queen weeplng.
"Love," replied the fairy. "If a man of pure heart were to fall in love with her, that would
bring her back to life!"
"How can a man fall in love with a sleeping girl?" sobbed the Queen, and so heart-broken
was she that, a few days later, she died. The sleeping Princess was taken to her room and laid
on the bed surrounded by garlands of flowers. She was so beautiful, with a sweet face, not
like those of the dead, but pink like those who are sleeping peacefully. The good fairy said to
herself,
"When she wakens, who is she going to see around her? Strange faces and people she doesn't
know? I can never let that happen. It would be too painful for this unfortunate girl."
So the fairy cast a spell; and everyone that lived in the castle - soldiers, ministers, guards,
servants, ladies, pages, cooks, maids and knights - all fell into a deep sleep, wherever they
were at that very moment.
"Now," thought the fairy, "when the Princess wakes up, they too will awaken, and life will go
on from there." And she left the castle, now wrapped in silence. Not a sound was to be heard,
nothing moved except for the clocks, but when they too ran down, they stopped, and time
stopped with them. Not even the faintest rustle was to be heard, only the wind whistling
round the turrets, not a single voice, only the cry of birds.
The years sped past. In the castle grounds, the trees grew tall. The bushes became thick and
straggling, the grass invaded the courtyards and the creepers spread up the walls. In a
hundred years, a dense forest grew up.
Now, it so happened that a Prince arrived in these parts. He was the son of a king in a country
close by. Young, handsome and melancholy, he sought in solitude everything he could not
find in the company of other men: serenity, sincerity and purity. Wandering on his trusty
steed he arrived, one day, at the dark forest. Being adventurous, he decided to explore it. He
made his way through slowly and with a struggle, for the trees and bushes grew in a thick
tangle. A few hours later, now losing heart, he was about to turn his horse and go back when
he thought he could see something through the trees . . . He pushed back the branches . . .
Wonder of wonders! There in front of him stood a castle with high towers. The young man
stood stock still in amazement,
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"I wonder who this castle belongs to?" he thought.
The young Prince rode on towards the castle. The drawbridge was down and, holding his
horse by the reins, he crossed over it. Immediately he saw the inhabitants draped all over the
steps, the halls and courtyards, and said to himself,
"Good heavens! They're dead!" But in a moment, he realised that they were sound asleep.
"Wake up! Wake up!" he shouted, but nobody moved. Still thoroughly astonished, he went
into the castle and again discovered more people, lying fast asleep on the floor. As though led
by a hand in the complete silence, the Prince finally reached the room where the beautiful
Princess lay fast asleep. For a long time he stood gazing at her face, so full of serenity, so
peaceful, lovely and pure, and he felt spring to his heart that love he had always been
searching for and never found. Overcome by emotion, he went close, lifted the girl's little
white hand and gently kissed it . . .
At that kiss, the prlncess quickly opened her eyes, and wakening from her long long sleep,
seeing the Prince beside her, murmured:
"Oh, you have come at last! I was waiting for you in my dream. I've waited so long!"
Just then, the spell was broken. The Princess rose to her feet, holding out her hand to the
Prince. And the whole castle woke up too. Everybody rose to their feet and they all stared
round in amazement, wondering what had happened. When they finally realised, they rushed
to the Princess, more beautiful and happier than ever.
A few days later, the castle that only a short time before had lain in silence, now rang with
the sound of singing, music and happy laughter at the great party given in honour of the
Prince and Princess, who were getting married. They lived happily ever after, as they always
do in fairy tales, not quite so often, however, in real life.
ALLEGORY
Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a
narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying
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meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often
personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy.
Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.
Intertextuality in Briar Rose
Using a text within another text is called intertextuality. A British writer, David Lodge,
believes that modern novelists recycle ‘old myth and earlier works of literature to shape, and
add resonance to, their presentation of contemporary life” (The Art of Fiction, p99).
Yolen uses the story of Briar Rose for these purposes. Yolen tells a narrative in the present,
but inserts flashbacks in the form of a fairy tale. Gemma’s changing of the details to suit her
story echoes what oral retellers have always done with fairy tales. The reference to traditional
mythic texts provides a universal aspect to the story.
Josef Potocki’s narrative provides readers with a story within a story. He witnessed who
Gemma really was and where she came from. Even though this is the case, he tells his
narrative in third person, as if he were just another storyteller and not one of the characters.
He is able to fill in the events of Gemma’s life that were unknown to her family, while Becca
is able to provide for Josef what happened to Gemma. This parallel is satisfying to the reader
as the missing links to the puzzle of Gemma’s life are revealed. Yolen also creates a parallel
with traditional fairy tales as there is a happy ending foretold by Stan, “We’ll get to happily
ever after eventually.”
Activities
1. Read the quotations from writers on the function and nature of fairy tales (at the
beginning of each section.) Explain each quotation in your own words.
2. How do these quotations relate to the content of the sections of the novel which
follow? How do they suggest the ways the writer wants us to interpret each section?
3. How would you tell the Holocaust story to children?
4. What other sensitive issues could fairy tales be used to explore? Give reasons for your
answer.
Discussion with Jane Yolen, Author
Interview
A discussion with Jane Yolen, in which Ms. Yolen talks about writers and storytellers
being the "memory of a civilization," censorship, the Holocaust, and homosexuality in
the context of her novel, "Briar Rose."
RoseEtta Stone: I initially learned about "Briar Rose" through a book review
which categorized it as a children's book. It's also been referred to as a fairy
tale for young adults. Yet I found it in the adult fiction section of my local
library. How should "Briar Rose" actually be classified?
JANE YOLEN: "Briar Rose" was written and published as an adult book but has
gotten into many high school and college courses as a core text. Because "Briar
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Rose" has, in fact, been so adopted by young adult readers, it has been reissued by
Tor in its new Starscape line of Young Adult books, with a brand new cover (in
March 2002).
RES: In the book a fairy tale seems to serve as the basis for a novel, a
mystery, and a Holocaust tale. How did you manage to combine all of these
diverse elements into one work of fiction?
YOLEN: The book is a novel by definition; it uses the fairy tale motif as both a
thematic underpinning and as transitional material. But some (including my editor),
would say the book itself is a fairy tale in that it uses fairy tale logic and has a fairy
tale at the core since no women actually escaped from Chelmno.
RES: What inspired you to write the story as a novel/fairy tale about the
Holocaust?
YOLEN: I had thought about doing a book on the Holocaust for a long time, but
quite frankly the idea overwhelmed me. Finally one of my editors who was a rabbi's
wife, persuaded me the time had come to confront the task. Writers and storytellers
are the memory of a civilization, and we who are alive now really must not forget
what happened in that awful time or else we may be doomed to repeat it.
I ended up writing a young adult novel called "The Devil's Arithmetic," (another
Holocaust novel). The research and writing of "The Devil's Arithmetic" took me
several years. When I was done, I swore to myself I would never write another book
on the Holocaust because it was such an emotionally difficult task.
However, I did!
The idea for an adult novel on the subject "Briar Rose," had come to me when I was
watching the documentary "Shoah" in which the concentration camp Chelmno was
described -- a camp in a castle. Castle, barbed wire, and the gassing of innocent
folk. It suggested the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" in a horrible way. Yet I did not
want to get into that awful world once again. It took another editor to persuade me
this book needed to be written.
I am glad I have written both the books, glad and proud. Yet I would not want to
write either one of them again. Still, as I write in the books I autograph, We Must
Remember. And of course, story is one way we humans have of remembering.
RES: Portions of "Briar Rose" containing homosexual content are one of the
reasons it's on the banned books lists.
YOLEN: The homosexual content is slight compared to "homosexual" books. That
is, there are no real sex scenes, and one bedroom scene that is really about politics,
not sex. But I did not make up the pink triangle camps. "Briar Rose" deals pretty
directly in one section with the infamous "Pink Triangle camps" in which the Nazis'
incarcerated known or suspected homosexuals. In fact the "Prince" character is a
gay man -- or so it seems at first.
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Because there is a homosexual character in the book, the novel has been banned in
some places, and actually burned in Kansas City on the steps of the Board Of
Education by a right-wing religious group. I do not believe they read the book.
RES: You must have known while writing the novel that certain people and
groups would find segments of the tale provocative, controversial, and
offensive. Yet that didn't prevent you from telling your story as you believed it
should be told.
YOLEN: I wrote "Briar Rose" as an adult book, and actually gave no thought to
readers who might find parts of the book offensive. My attention was entirely on the
story. I think someone who finds offensive a book in which a main character is gay
or Jewish should not be reading the book in the first place.
RES: Aside from censors, did the homosexual passages of the novel elicit any
response or reaction from Jewish and/or gay individuals or organizations?
YOLEN: The book had practically no reviews in the Jewish press, though "Devil's
Arithmetic" won all the Jewish book awards. But "Briar Rose" was widely reviewed
in the gay press. It won several awards (not Jewish, not gay) and still sells briskly. It
is currently being translated into (I think) Russian and being considered by German
publishers. I think there are other translations
Context for Briar Rose
The context of the story is significant to our understanding of the events that
take place.
Read and take notes on the information given below and complete the
research task.
Chelmno extermination camp
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nazi extermination camps in Germany and General Government (marked with black and
white skulls)
Chełmno extermination camp, also known as the Kulmhof concentration camp, was a
Nazi German extermination camp that was situated 70 kilometres (43 mi) from Łódź, near a
small village called Chełmno nad Nerem (Kulmhof an der Nehr in German). After annexation
by Germany Kulmhof was included into Reichsgau Wartheland in 1939. The camp was
opened in 1941 to kill the Jews of the Łódź Ghetto and the Warthegau.
At least 153,000 people were killed in the camp, mainly Poles, Jews from the Łódź Ghetto
and the surrounding area, along with Gypsies from Greater Poland and some Hungarian Jews,
Czechs, and Soviet prisoners of war.
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Chelmno
(in German, Kulmhof), extermination camp located in the Polish village of
Chelmno, 47 miles west of Lodz. Chelmno was the first Nazi camp where
gassing was used to exterminate Jews on a large-scale basis, and the first
place outside the Soviet Union where Jews were slaughtered en mass as part
of the "final solution." It was created to serve as the extermination center for
the Jews in the Lodz ghetto as well as those from the entire Warthegau
region. In all, some 320,000 people were murdered at Chelmno.
Chelmno encompassed two sites 2.5 miles apart. The first was located
inside the village in an old palace. This site was where the prisoners were
received and gassed, and where the camp staff was housed. The second site
was located in a nearby forest, and consisted of mass graves and later,
crematoria ovens.
The first group of prisoners arrived at Chelmno on December 7, 1941, and
the first exterminations began the next day. The camp's early victims included
Jews from throughout the area, as well as 5,000 Gypsies who had been
imprisoned in the Lodz Ghetto. No railroad tracks reached Chelmno directly,
so the deportees were brought by train to a nearby station, and then loaded
onto trucks that delivered them straight to the reception area at Chelmno. The
Nazis then gathered the victims in the palace's courtyard, and told them that
they were being sent to a work camp, and thus had to get washed up. Groups
of 50 were then sent to the building's ground floor, where they were made to
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give up their valuables and undress—men, women, and children together.
Next, they were taken to the cellar, where they were reassured by signs that
they were heading "To the Washroom," but in fact were forced down a ramp
into a gas van. After the van was filled to the brim, the driver locked the doors
and turned on the motor. After 10 minutes, the gas fumes had suffocated all
those inside the van.
Throughout 1942 Jews from the Lodz Ghetto and from the 32 other towns
and villages in the Warthegau were deported to their deaths at Chelmno. In
addition, several Poles were also sent there, as were Soviet prisoners of war
and 88 children from the Czech village of Lidice. The possessions that had
been brought by victims to Chelmno were given or sold to Germans living in
the region. On January 19, 1942 an inmate, Jacob Grojanowski, succeeded in
escaping and reached the Warsaw Ghetto, where he gave detailed
information to the underground Oneg Shabbat Archives. By June 1942,
through the channels of the Polish underground, his report reached London
and was published (see also Grojanowski Report).
In March 1943 the Nazis stopped the deportations to Chelmno, as all of the
Jews in the Warthegau, except for those left in the Lodz Ghetto, had already
been annihilated. The camp was dismantled, and the camp staff was
transferred to Yugoslavia to fight Yugoslav partisans. However, the Nazis
reopened the camp in April 1944 in conjunction with their plan to liquidate the
Lodz Ghetto. Members of the Chelmno staff were brought back from
Yugoslavia to resume their work at the camp, to which crematoria had been
added. Transports to Chelmno were renewed on June 23, 1944, and by midJuly, more than 7,000 Jews had been exterminated. At that point, the Nazis
decided to step up the liquidation process, so they halted the transports to
Chelmno and began deporting the remaining ghetto inhabitants to Auschwitz,
where extermination by Zyklon B gas was quicker and more efficient.
In early September 1944, as part of aktion 1005, the Nazis began destroying
all evidence of mass murder at Chelmno by digging up and cremating the
bodies that had been buried in mass graves. On January 17, 1945, as Soviet
troops drew near, the Nazis began evacuating Chelmno. While murdering the
last 48 Jewish prisoners in the camp, the Jews put up a fight and three
escaped. The rest were killed.
Briar Rose and the Holocaust
The Holocaust
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005143
1. What was the holocaust?
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2. Who were the targets for extermination?
3. Why was extermination a part of Nazi policy?
4. Identify the different types of concentration camp.
The Concentration Camp at Chelmno
http://www.jewishgen.org/ForgottenCamps/Camps/ChelmnoEng.html
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Where is Chelmno?
What other names is Chelmno known by?
What type of concentration camp was located in Chelmno?
How many people were killed at Chelmno?
Give a brief outline of the history of the concentration camp at Chelmno.
Briar Rose
1. How are these events presented in Briar Rose?
2. Why do you think Jane Yolen uses the story of ‘Briar Rose’ to reveal issues about the
holocaust?
Briar Rose – Study Guide
Complete the questions in detail in your workbooks. Try to include as many specific
examples from the text as you can.
CHAPTER 1
 How is the opening sentence important?
 Why is this chapter and all the others like it in this section of the novel printed in
Italics? Why does Yolen want this differentiation in the narration of her story?
 P 4 Why is Gemma’s beginning of the fairy tale appropriate and ironic?
 ‘Gemma touched … like barbed wire.’ Explain the unexpectedness of this line when
first reading the text and then explain how familiarity with the text makes this line
understandable.
 Why does Yolen begin her novel with Gemma and her ‘story telling’ and then change
time and action in the alternating chapters? That is, why is it the fairy tale that begins
the novel – why doesn’t Yolen incorporate it into the present time narrative? What
point is she making and on what does this keep the reader focused as s/her reads?
CHAPTER 2
 P 5 Why is it appropriate that Sylvia and Shana are ‘marked as twins’ both in the
modern narrative and for purposes of the fairy tale?
 P 10 ‘…as if slowly returning from a far journey, (Gemma) … filled her skin again,
breathed a shuddering sigh, and opened her eyes.’ How does this description become
doubly powerful after the reader has completed the text?
 P 13 Gemma ‘”believes she once lived in a castle! The true Belle au Bois Dormant.
The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood. A goddammed fairy tale princess Becca. With a
Yiddish accent.”’ What is ironic about Sylvia’s condemnation of Gemma to a reader
who has completed the text?
 Yolen actually reveals to the reader the purpose of the fairy tale on this page. What
is it? Explain.
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



P 16 ‘”I was the princess! she cried again … “It is all I have to leave you. Promise
me you will find the castle. Promise me you will find the prince. Promise me you
will find the maker of the spells.”’ What is Gemma bequeathing to Becca?
Why is it ironic, to the reader who has finished the text, that Gemma makes Becca
swear ‘”On my grave.”’
P 17 What is the impact of the final sentences of the chapter?
In this chapter we see significant differences between Sylvia and Shana and their
younger, re-haired sister, Becca. How does she appear to be singled out as the worthy
heroine of this story? Use a Thesaurus to build up vocabulary to describe Becca after
finding the initial descriptions from this chapter. Use the chapter vocabulary and add
to each by at least 5 words.
CHAPTER 3
 P 19 Becca’s response to the ‘”bad fairy … in black with big black boots and silver
eagles on her hat”’ and the ‘”angel of death”’ and her ‘”curse”’ is to say: ‘”It will be
all right, Gemma. You’ll see. The curse doesn’t work.”’ In a wider context, what
might Yolen be wishing to communicate here?
CHAPTER 4
 P 31 ‘”I’m going to solve it.” Becca put her hand over the ring, covering the picture
as well. “The riddle and the mystery and the enigma. I’m going to find the castle and
the prince and reclaim our heritage.”’ How, at this instance, does Yolen merge the
strands of fairy tale, Holocaust literature, mystery novel and quest?
CHAPTER 5
 p 34 Gemma’s variation on the original fairy tale upsets Shirley, Becca’s friend. ‘She
never stayed overnight again. Becca never invited her.’ What does this show above
Becca?
CHAPTER 6
 P 38 ‘Gemma’s story never ended happily ever after except for the princess Briar
Rose and her own little girl. There had always been something decidedly odd about
the whole telling. Only now was Becca able to admit it.’ Becca believes that her
grandmother has ‘invented details’ but this chapter concerns itself with Becca
beginning to question and analyse the information contained in Gemma’s briar and
rose wooden box. What conclusion does Becca reach about death and sleep in ‘this
house of death’? What is ironic to the reader who has completed the book about this
phrase?
CHAPTER 7
 P 43 ‘Becca had leaned over, putting her hand on her grandmother’s arm. “I will
want to hear it always, Gemma. Because it is your story.”’ Explain how the story is
Becca’s story also.
CHAPTER 8
 P 53 ‘”… she always spoke of her past as if it were a fairy tale.” He put his hand on
the lid of the open box and looked down into the pile of things. “A fairy tale?” “Briar
Rose. You know – Sleeping Beauty. She always insisted that she was the princess in
the castle and that a mist came over the entire castle and everyone fell asleep. She
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
was the only one kissed awake by the prince.” “Always?”’ How does Stan’s reaction
show journalistic interest?
P54-55 ‘”What do the facts say, Becca? … Any castles in the family? Any palaces?
… So you’ve found no castles, no princes. At least none yet. Except those in the
fairy tale. … But you have only begun to investigate this story.”’ What two words in
Stan’s advice to Becca show his approach to Gemma’s ‘riddle’ and what do the words
‘only begun’ indicate?
CHAPTER 9
 P 58 What two responses are made by Gemma to the children about ‘barbs’ and about
the knowledge of others about those in the castle? Explain what they signify and to
what narrative in the novel they are particularly relevant.
CHAPTER 10
 P 60 Why does Yolen include the details about Shana’s and Sylvia’s offers of help?
 P 61 Becca says ‘”Gitl Mandlestein. Your life seems to be mostly blank. How can I
possibly fill it in nearly fifty years later? How do I even know you are my
grandmother? My Gemma?”’ There are three ‘clues’ given in the next few pages of
this chapter that Gitl and Gemma are different names for the same person. What are
the tree main ‘clues’?
 P 64 Stan’s advice to Becca is: ‘”Don’t guess. Find out. It’s you only lead.”’ What
qualities in each of them make this advice appropriate?
 P 65 ‘Ksiezniczka’ means ‘young princess’ in Polish and Becca’s response on
learning this is to say: ‘”Gemma’s middle name had been Rose and her other – nickname? alias? code name? – had been princess. “So, Watsonstein,” she said to herself,
“What’s so elementary now?”’ How is Yolen reminding us here of the fictions that
exist in lives and in literature? Explain the literary reference used here and why it is
appropriate and what it indicates about Becca’s determination.
 P 66 What is the relevance of Stan inviting himself to Becca’s house to look at the
papers with her?
CHAPTER 11
 P 68 Gemma’s story describes: ‘”a hundred years, a thousand year. It doesn’t matter.
Dead is Dead.”’ but Sylvia reminds her that: ‘”… they weren’t dead. …Just
sleeping.”’ Gemma then reverts to the hundred years of the story and introduces the
prince ‘”of a nearby country.”’ What do the children not realize about what Gemma
has said?
CHAPTER 12
 P 73 On their drive to Oswego, when Becca asks him about his search for his birth
mother: ‘He stopped and started and inserted elliptical explanations … and she know
it was not a story he told often.’ What possible comments could Yolen be making
here about Stan, about Gemma and about the tellers of tales?
 P 74 Stan indicates that he has been satisfied with the results of his search for his birth
mother and has finished with the story. He advises Becca that what she will feel
about her story depends on ‘”whether it’s a happy-ever-after ending or not, like all
good fairy tales.”’ What does Becca’s response indicate about Gemma’s Briar Rose
and Gemma’s own story? What does Stan’s response indicate about the Becca-Stan
story?
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




P 78 Yolen’s description of Harvey Goldman makes it obvious that he has suffered.
How does she convey this?
P 80 Explain why Marge’s description evokes such a response from Becca.
Explain the importance of Harvey’s statement:’” Time does not excuse conscience.”’
That is, what does Yolen want us to understand about the fact that time can distance
us from evil deeds?
P 81 Stan’s response can be applied to more people than just Harvey. What other
main characters have been ‘scarred’ and in what ways?
P 82 It seems that Harvey has no knowledge of Gitl, Dawna or Genevieve but, when
he is shown the photograph of people crowding around Gemma, he recognizes
himself as a young man and identifies her as ‘Ksiezniczka, princess.’ On the
following three pages he explains why. What fairy tale reasons are given and what
reasons quite different to the accepted version of a fairy tale are also there?
CHAPTER 13
 P 86 Gemma continues the story at the point where the prince comes. Why does
Yolen have Becca alone and ill with pneumonia to hear the part she likes best?
 P 87 Explain the relevance of the peasant who ‘”had only a few teeth’”.
 Why might Yolen have made Becca so moved by this part of the story when the
prince says ‘”But do you know courage?’” and ‘”so saying, he put his right hand into
the thorns.”’
 What might be the significance of Gemma warning the feverish little girl with her
own body and Becca’s chest and throat hurting?
CHAPTER 14
 P 95-96 After a low-key beginning: ‘The museum had been an anti-climax’, the final
two pages dramatically place Gemma in ‘Kulmhof’ and Harvey Goldman says of it:
‘”It was not even a concentration camp. It was simply a place of … extermination.”’
and he also says it is somewhere ‘”In the darkest regions of hell.’” What statement of
his adds to the puzzle of Gemma’s origins? Explain.
CHAPTER 15
 P 98 Gemma is particularly moved as she tells Becca and Barney, ‘who had
something wrong with his hands and so no one else would play with him’, the part of
Briar Rose where the ‘princes who had been there before’ sing. When she is asked
what they said, her song disturbs Barney who objects to ‘kidnappers’ being included
in a story he knows doesn’t have them. Why might Gemma be upset about what she
has told them about ‘”An old song for an old story.”’
CHAPTER 16
 P 102 Explain the conversation Becca has with her mother and father. What are the
differences in ‘inheritance’ and ‘burden’ and family ‘secret’ and a ‘promise’?
 P 105 What 4 different reasons does Stan give for searching for his birth mother?
Explain what each means.
 P 109 What does Stan now say to Becca that explains both their attitudes to Becca’s
search? How does his work link to the fairy tale and quest concept?
 What caution does Stan give to Becca when she says her story will begin with ‘Once
Upon a Time.’?
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CHAPTER 17
 P 96. What does Gemma mean by stating that the princess has future lives? Why is it
significant to understanding their relationship that Becca understands what her
grandmother means?
 There is a certain irony in the fact of the story and the setting in which Gemma tells it.
What is it?
CHAPTER 18
 What is it about Poland that brings Becca to the conclusion that Poland is the place of
fairytales?
CHAPTER 19
 Why is Becca so concerned about missing the story even though she had heard it so
often before, she knew the ending?
CHAPTER 20
 When Magda says to Becca, ‘you want an ending to the story. Not every story has an
end.’ what do you think she has recognised in Becca?
CHAPTER 21
 Make a note of the imagery associated with ‘death’ and ‘sleeping’. How do they
reinforce or develop previous references to death.
CHAPTER 22
 When Becca and Magda arrive in Chelmno, they first notice a white church spire. (p.
120) Explain the irony of this.
 Explain why the villagers are not hospitable to the travelers.
 The castle (schloss) is revealed in this chapter. (p. 124). Describe its importance to the
town and to the story.
 (p. 127) The friends visit the Narew River. What do they find here and why is it
significant?
CHAPTER 24
 What do you think Potocki means when he says, ‘The dead come back to life so
unexpectedly’? (p. 133)
CHAPTER 25
 How does Yolen use the metaphor of music in this chapter?
CHAPTER 26
 What is noticeable in this chapter about Josef’s view of life? Think about the mood of
the chapter.
CHAPTER 28
 There is the sense of the oral tradition interwoven on various levels. How does Yolen
do this?
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
Describe Josef’s story. Consider the implications of the term driftwood (chapter 27)
that he uses to describe his path. Comment on the significance of his story.
CHAPTER 29 AND 30
 Summarise the events of this chapter in point form. Highlight aspects of your
summary that are particularly emotional in one colour. In another colour, highlight
aspects of the story that make reference to the fairy tale, Briar Rose.
 Describe how the story of Briar Rose and the events of Chelmno become confused.
 Even though Josef does not elaborate with unnecessary detail, he gives the reader a
very strong sense of Ksiezniczka. What is he telling us about her?
 Why was it important for the author to include Josef’s story as she did?
CHAPTER 31
 Take note of the bed Gemma describes in this scene. Comment on its significance. (p.
189)
CHAPTER 32
 How is the concept of ‘happy-ever-after’ explored here?
CHAPTER 33
 What is meant by ‘giving her breath for breath’ and giving her ‘back the world’?
Style and structure in Briar Rose
Structure
 Use of three sections – Home, Castle, Home Again.
 Each is a stage of Becca’s journey
 Home – harmony, warmth, Becca’s nurturing by her grandmother, love and protection of
family.
 Although she has lost her grandmother, she has the legacy of the story.
 Two narratives, running as alternative chapters. The story is in italics. This moves the story
between past and present: both Gemma’s past and Becca’s.
 Castle – the narrative of Josef Potocki.
 None of Gemma’s Sleeping Beauty story – the reader’s focus is on the real story – the history of
her grandmother.
 His story is told in an omniscient perspective, as though he is telling someone else’s story, not
his own. He refers to his own hindsight.
 In Josef’s story, the castle is ironically a place of death, the princess is rescued from death, not a
soundless sleep, the prince does not live happily ever after because he is killed in battle
(p.222)
 Home Again – connects each part of the story
 A short part of the story.
 Stan’s greeting Becca at the airport offers her own fairytale ending. The prince kisses the
princess, awakens her and they ‘live happily ever after’.
 Link to introductory quote.
 The parallel stories converge to recognise reality.
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Language
 Sustained metaphor
 Irony of situations linked to details of fairytale
 Use of parallels to tell Gemma’s story
 A fairytale should be happy, but it is used allegorically to tell Gemma’s story
 Moralistic in that it aims to teach a lesson, as fairytales traditionally did (good over evil;
triumph of the human heart over agony
 Fairytale as inspiration for this book
 Imagery – warmth and happiness of the household and Magda’s relationship with her aunt
juxtaposed against the bleakness of Josef’s story. A juxtaposition of two realities.
Respond:
 How are style and structure used to tell Gemma’s story?
 How are they used to contribute to the allegorical nature of the novel?
 What is the effect of this structure on the reader?
Briar rose – Character Profile Template
Complete the following table for each major character in Briar Rose. Use the Question
Matrix to write and answer one question from the allocated category. Write new questions
for each character study you complete.
Character’s
Page
Name
no.
Present
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Past (about
personal
characteristics)
Possibility or
probability
(about links to
the Sleeping
Beauty fairytale)
Possibility or
imagination
(about links to
other
characters)
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The Question Matrix
EVENT
PRESENT
WHAT IS?
1
PAST
WHAT DID?
7
POSSIBILITY
WHAT CAN?
13
PROBABILITY
WHAT
WOULD?
19
PREDICTION
WHAT WILL?
5
IMAGINATION
WHAT
MIGHT?
11
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SITUATION
WHERE/
WHEN IS?
2
WHERE/
WHEN DID?
8
WHERE /
WHEN CAN?
14
WHERE /
WHEN
WOULD?
20
WHERE /
WHEN WILL?
6
WHERE /
WHEN
MIGHT?
12
CHOICE
PERSON
REASON
MEANS
WHICH IS?
3
WHO IS?
4
WHY IS?
5
HOW IS?
6
WHICH DID?
9
WHO DID?
10
WHY DID?
11
HOW DID?
12
WHICH CAN?
15
WHO CAN?
16
WHY CAN?
17
HOW CAN?
18
WHICH
WOULD?
1
WHO
WOULD?
2
WHY
WOULD?
3
HOW
WOULD?
4
WHICH WILL?
7
WHO WILL?
8
WHY WILL?
9
HOW WILL?
10
WHICH
MIGHT?
13
WHO MIGHT
14
WHY MIGHT?
15
HOW MIGHT?
16
TECHNIQUES in Briar Rose
Language
Yolen adapts her language to the speakers and situations in different sections of the novel.
In the section ‘The Castle’, Josef Potocki speaks in a well-educated manner as he recounts
the story of Gemma.
The everyday American speech in a middle class family is seen through the Berlin family.
The discussions among the three sisters are often presented in third person narrative, “she
said”. This has the effect of highlighting the tension between the sisters when they argue.
This contrasts to the conversation between Becca and Stan as they are usually presented in
straight dialogue.
Magda, Becca’s guide in Poland, speaks fluent but sometimes awkward English: “Oh, they
are much appreciation”, she says when given a pair of jeans. This creates a realistic effect to
the novel by highlighting that English is Magda’s second language.
Contrast is shown between the formal, traditional language of the fairy tale and childish,
informal chatter when the children comment, question or argue while Gemma tells the Briar
Rose story. Her constant revisiting of this fairy tale shows the reader that while her
conscious memory has buried the details of her past horrors, she cannot help returning to
the fairy tale allegory. Contrast is also shown between the warm, happy imagery of life in the
Berlin household, and the bleak, harsh details of wartime life.
For the most part, Yolen’s language is literal, rather than figurative. However, the descriptive
passages use techniques such as similes, metaphors and personification. Visual imagery is
used to describe Gemma’s physical appearance. This description also becomes symbolic,
“Gemma touched her own hair in which strands of white curled around the red like barbed
wire.” Josef’s story, ‘The Castle’ is full of emotive language and graphic description. It is
used to present the Nazi treatment of the prisoners, but is also used to set the atmosphere
and scene. Visual and aural imagery is used to amplify the context of oppression and
suffering of the Jewish experiences in Nazi Europe.
Narrative and Point of View
Briar Rose is essentially constructed as a dual narrative that takes us on a journey involving
both Gemma and Rebecca. We see events of both the past and present through their eyes.
There are, however, multiple narrative voices telling parts of the story.
 Yolen also uses Josef and Father Stashu to further develop and make explicit judgments
of the people of Chelmno and the events of the war.
 Rebecca’s point of view shapes most of the novel’s interactions and events. Crucially,
however, it is the differently told accounts of the atrocities of Chelmno that most shape
the readers’ emotional response to, and intellectual understanding of, Briar Rose.
 Gemma uses the story of Sleeping Beauty to recount her Holocaust experiences.
 Josef Potocki’s frank narrative recounting of what happened at Chelmno reveals the
brutal truths of the Holocaust to Becca and the reader.
A purpose of the multiple narratives is to provide the reader with different perspectives,
not only on the horrors of the Holocaust but also its legacy – its impact on the survivors.
21 | P a g e
Stylistic devices
Yolen uses many stylistic devices in the novel. She begins the novel with Gemma telling
her three young granddaughters the story of Sleeping Beauty. Each of the odd-numbered
chapters in the ‘Home’ section are italicised to alert the reader to the fact that these are
flashbacks to the past, that is, Becca’s childhood.
Italics are used for several reasons:
 All of Gemma’s narrative is italicised to signal a shift in time and voice.
 The morning after Gemma’s funeral, Becca can hear her grandmother’s voice again,
telling the story of sleeping beauty (pgs. 37-38). Again the italics signal that there has
been a change in narrative perspective, as does the use of capital letters to signal
Becca’s thoughts later in the novel (e.g. pg. 62).
 At times italics are used simply to place emphasis on meaning, such as Becca’s
reflection that it was just Stan’s ‘presence’ that made her feel ‘left-footed’ (pg. 51).
 Polish words add to the authenticity and realism of the story, reminding the reader that
the Holocaust not only killed people but that those ‘lucky’ survivors had to start life anew
in a new country, with new traditions and a different culture and language. These words
are also italicised to draw our attention.
EXTENDED RESPONSES
Practice Question
The distinctive qualities of texts are intended to appeal to responders.
Write an essay in which you consider how the ideas, forms and language of your prescribed
text achieve this.
1. What is meant by the term distinctive qualities?
2. List the distinctive qualities of Briar Rose. (Make sure you include ideas, forms and
language used in the novel).
3. Complete this table in your book by providing evidence of the distinctive qualities.
Qualities
Narrative
structure:
Parallel stories


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Quotes/examples
The fairy tale of Briar Rose is told by
Gemma to her grandchildren. Becca
realises that this story is a metaphor for
Gemma’s life. Gemma’s story differs
from the traditional fairy tale. “Not
everyone will die. A few will just sleep.
You, princess, will be one.” (P34)
The alternate chapters focus on Becca’s
quest to find out the truth behind the
How it appeals to responders
 The fairy tale adds a sense of
suspense and mystery to the
novel
 Responders are intrigued to
find out the truth behind the
fairy tale. Like Becca,
responders desire to find out
answers to her questions.
fairy tale. Becca poses questions to
herself about the meaning of elements of
the fairy tale. “The good fairy had
promised not death, but sleep. And after
all, what was so bad about sleeping?”
(p38).
Briar Rose
Essay Scaffold
In your answer, you will be assessed on how well you:
• demonstrate understanding of a text’s distinctive qualities and how these shape
meaning
• organise, develop and express ideas using language appropriate to audience, purpose
and form
In the box above are the marking criteria for this section.
What are the distinctive features of this text?
Consider the purpose for writing the text
Yolen wanted to ………..
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Consider the following forms and features of this text with reference to relevant
examples
Through her use of the fairytale genre, Yolen has been able to …………….
The themes in this text are
Of particular significance, is the theme …….. because it ……………
Yolen explore this through the character …………., who ……………..
The theme ……………. is relevant because
The technique ………………. develops this theme by …………………….
Through the theme ……………….., Yolen wants to convey the message ………
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Yolen uses the technique of characterisation effectively by ……..
Becca is important as the protagonist of the story because ………..
The reader perceives …………………. through the relationship between Becca and
Gemma
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Through the symbol, ………………., the audience is able to understand ………….
Yolen wants her audience to develop an understanding of humanity and human need
through Briar Rose. In particular, we can learn ………………. through …………
Using this scaffold, write your response to the question. You should try to write it under
exam conditions and submit it to your teacher for feedback.
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Briar Rose
Jane Yolen
Book Review
It seems only right that Jane Yolen, one of the world's leading makers of fairy-tale magic,
should write a novel for Terri Windling's Fairy Tale series, a collection of modern retellings
of age-old tales. Yolen creates a stunning masterpiece, combining the eerie enchantment of
"Briar Rose" (also known as "Sleeping Beauty in the Wood") with the terrifying history of
the Holocaust.
Becca Berlin grew up listening to her grandma -- Gemma -- tell the tale of Sleeping Beauty, a
story about castles and thorns and mists. For years, Becca and her family thought it was just a
story, until Gemma starts insisting that the princess is her. On her deathbed, she extracts a
promise from Becca that her past will be uncovered and the story will come true.
Becca's sisters dismiss Gemma's story as the ramblings of a senile old woman, but Becca
feels strangely compelled to break through the mystery that surrounds Gemma's past like a
hedge of thorns surrounding an ancient tower. A box of photos, newspaper clippings and
entry forms, along with a man's ring, are the only clues Becca has with which to begin her
search -- a search that will take her to Poland and back in time to the dark terror of the
Holocaust.
Briar Rose moves through several layers of storytelling technique. The chapters alternate
between episodes of Becca's search for Gemma's past and lyrical "memories" of Gemma
telling the story of Briar Rose. Near the end of the novel, Becca's travels enfold an account of
the lives of several partisans in the German forests.
Rather than focusing on the well-known concentration camps such as Auschwitz or Dachau,
Yolen directs her attention to the Polish town of Chelmno, bravely bringing its terrors to the
attention of readers world-wide. She firmly addresses the full ramifications of the Holocaust
on people then and now.
In some ways, the story this novel is about is more important than the story it actually tells.
Becca's search for her grandmother's -- and ultimately her own -- past flows off the page like
a stream of running water, quick, fresh and lively. Yet the story of the Sleeping Beauty in the
Woods, particularly the way in which it is presented to reveal the tragedies of the Holocaust,
creates deeper resonances than the live action of the novel. Gemma's tale echoes the darker
current just below the surface of the stream that reaches far deeper than one might suspect.
Yet it is because of this resonating current that Becca's pilgrimage engages us as readers. For
a moment, we almost become Becca. Despite whatever connections we may or may not have
to this dark period in history, there is a part of us that is only able to comprehend the true
enormity of such stories when they are hidden in depths of older tales, for these old tales exist
in the dualities of light and dark, pain and joy, life and death.
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Jane Yolen's Briar Rose speaks with unflinching and brutal honesty. It tells the truth -- as
much as fiction can. Yet that truth reveals one much deeper -- the ability of people and stories
to overcome and endure.
http://www.rambles.net/yolen_briarrose.html
Notes..
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