Briar Rose Allegory

Jane Yolen, in her novel Briar Rose, has used an allegory of Briar Rose or Sleeping Beauty as a metaphor to hide the real experiences and emotions suffered from the Holocaust during World War Two. The development and techniques employed within the story are extremely effective for the use of the allegory.

Yolen has used a number of techniques to assist in the use of the allegory. She has used the title Briar Rose, Yolen has selected this specific title as it is another name for Sleeping Beauty, which is the basis of the story which Gemma tells throughout the novel.

She has also kept to the structure of a typical fairy tale. She has done this to continue the allegory between the fairy tale and real life by the inclusion of characters and settings which feature in both stories and these characters include the villain, prince, hero and a castle and begins to show the experiences from the Holocaust. The Prince of the story was Aron Mandestein, who is also the hero of the story as he climbed into the pit filled with the bodies of people who had been gassed by the Nazi and pulled her out. Josef Potocki, is also a hero within the story, as it was Josef who help to resuscitate Gemma, and also provided her with assistance to escape the country. The villain within this story is the Hitler and his Nazi followers, who placed people into concentration camps and killed over a 1000 people a day. The castle, which Gemma is making reference to is the “castle”, which was a concentration camp, where the Nazi’s sent people before their death by gas.

She has used italicised text for the chapters which are Gemma’s version in sleeping beauty, which is a metaphor of Gemmas' life during the Holocaust, which is tells as she is unable to directly speak about the her past experiences but still wants to pass on the information, so that it is not forgotten. This has been done to draw attention to the fairy tale and therefore the allegory. By bringing the fairy tale to the readers attention and therefore in contrast to the real experiences of Gemma, the reader is able to recognise the allegory and identify the true emotions which are concealed behind the allegory.

A typical story line of a fairy tale, is where there is a bad fairy who places a curse on the castle and puts the princess to sleep. A prince then comes along and kisses her and saves the day as the princess wakes from her sleep. Yolen has used this simple story line as it widely recognised and example from the story is the the bad fairy who said “I curse you Briar Rose. I curse you and your father the king and your mother the queen and all your uncles and aunts and cousins. And all the people in your village. And all the people who bear your name”. As it becomes recognised, she is then is able to focus on the allegory and the story which it is hidden from the reader.

Throughout the text, there are slight changes to the story of Sleeping Beauty. By subtlety implementing the changes to the story, the reader is able to recognise the changes and realise that there maybe more to the story than originally thought and that Yolen may have used an allegory. An example of where the story differs from the original is when Gemma is telling the story to Becca and her friend Shirley. Gemma is telling the part of the story when the bad fairy is speaking about the curse, “When you are seventeen, my curse will come true. You will lie down and a great mist will cover the caste and everyone will die. You, too, princess”. Shirley is outraged as in the story which she is usually told the princess pricks herself on the a needle on the spinning wheel instead of the mist surrounding the castle. These differences show that this is not a regular fairy tale. Another examples of differences in the story include the barbs which surround the castle, that people sleep for a hundred years and a hundreds is like death.

Yolen has also used clues to incorporate the reader within the text and make them feel more involved to the story. Some of the clues which are used in the novel, are the items which where found in the box after Gemma’s death. By using the box and the items inside it, Yolen makes Becca have the desire to go on this quest to Poland. By having the quest, each clue unravels another piece of the mystery which surrounds Gemma’s life and therefore the allegory.

The allegory within the story is the Holocaust and Gemma’s experiences. Yolen has used the allegory to disguise the atrocities which occurred during the war when many countries where under the control of the Nazi’s. Yolen has included Josef’s story to include a more in depth and factual account of the experiences. He was also included into the novel, so that the reader also has a sense of satisfaction as they are able to discover the mystery which surrounds