“She attempted a smile. ‘Fairy tales always have a happy ending.’
He leaned back in his chair. ‘That depends.’
‘On what?’
‘On whether you are Rumplestiltskin or the Queen’”
(Yolen, Briar Rose 106)
He leaned back in his chair. ‘That depends.’
‘On what?’
‘On whether you are Rumplestiltskin or the Queen’”
(Yolen, Briar Rose 106)
These lines constitute one of the most notable quotes in Jane Yolen’s Briar Rose. It can be said that they lay the foundation that transmits the intent this novel presents. After reading through Briar Rose’s entirety, it can be inferred that, according to Jane Yolen, the concept of happily-ever-after is ambiguous. A person’s journey towards a happy ending is long, arduous, and many times painful; there is no guarantee that they will ever make it, and those that do still remain disturbed by their pasts. In her highly acclaimed novel Briar Rose, Jane Yolen “breaks the spell” surrounding the recognized and reassuring fairytales. She uses Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s happily-ever-after “Brier Rose,” better known as “Sleeping Beauty” to express the cruel brutality behind one of history’s most hauntingly unfortunate experiences, the World War II Holocaust genocide, and how a Jewish survivor and the generations that come after her manage to cope with the tragedy of a horrific past.
When asked about her inspiration behind the Briar Rose story, Jane Yolen stated that “We Must Remember [the Holocaust]…Story is one way we humans have of remembering” (Yolen, “A Book Review”). According to Tina Hanlon in her article titled “‘To Sleep, Perchance to Dream’: Sleeping Beauties and Wide-Awake Plain Janes in the Stories of Jane Yolen,” the model of the fairy tale is an ideal coping mechanism when dealing with indescribable misfortune. Holman explains that “psychoanalytical critics such as Bruno Bettelheim and, more recently, Clarissa Pinkola Estes and Rollo May have emphasized the therapeutic value of folk tales and myths.” These fairy tales are transformed and become “like dreams, reflect[ing] symbolically our subconscious fears and desires.” Jane Yolen uses this theory as the primary component and driving force behind her novel Briar Rose. Not only does she use a “variety of experimental techniques to combine fairytale motifs with realistic contemporary and historical themes…[in order to] feature the adventures of strong women without severing their ties to the ancient fairy-tale realm of magic and dream” (Hanlon), but she also invents a Holocaust survivor who exploits the Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm fairy tale “Brier Rose” in order to come to terms with her forgotten yet dreadful past (Yolen, Briar Rose).
As one of Briar Rose’s main female protagonists, Gitl Rose Mandlestein is known as Gemma by her children and grandchildren and is also known as Księźniczka, which is the Polish word meaning “princess,” by the group of partisans who rescued her (Yolen, Briar Rose). The story of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s “Brier Rose” becomes Księźniczka’s story for two reasons. First, the manner of which Księźniczka survives the Holocaust is very similar to how the princess is awakened from her one hundred year sleep. They are both given the kiss of life; however, the prince in “Brier Rose” only kisses her awake while Księźniczka’s Prince “breaks the spell,” bringing her back to life through cardiopulmonary resuscitation (Yolen, Briar Rose). Second, Księźniczka has lost all of her memory up until the point she was rescued, apparently the only generous side effect to “gas poisoning [which] brought psychoses, [and] brought deterioration of personality” (Yolen, Briar Rose 211). She is unable to recall her past — only remembering the “Brier Rose” fairy tale and being told that she is one of the millions of Jews persecuted by Hitler and his German army.
Consequently, Księźniczka makes Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s “Brier Rose” into her own story based entirely on her own experiences in the Poland concentration camp known as Chelmno. Because of her family’s murder and her lost memories, this story ends up becoming her only connection to both her family and her past (Yolen, Briar Rose). There are many significant connections between Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s “Brier Rose,” the Briar Rose story Księźniczka concocted, and what really happened to Księźniczka, her family, and her people in Chelmno.
To begin with, one of the biggest elements that connected all three stories to one another is that of the witch, better known as the evil fairy named Maleficent in the original Disney movie animated adaptation. In “Brier Rose,” this witch is actually known as the “thirteenth…wise woman” (Grimm 696). Księźniczka develops this “wise woman” (Grimm 696) and transforms her into “the bad fairy…the one in black with big black boots and silver eagles on her hat” (Yolen, Briar Rose 19). We can easily infer, by just this description, that Księźniczka’s “bad fairy” or “angel of death” (Yolen, Briar Rose 19) is in reality Hitler and his Nazi Party, which history recognizes to be Germans dressed all in black and adorning their hats with the well-known symbol of the pinned silver eagle.
Another major element that connected the three stories is the curse itself. In “Brier Rose,” the “thirteenth…wise woman” declares that “the princess will prick herself with a spindle and fall…into a deep sleep” (Grimm 696). Księźniczka’s version of the curse is similar. When telling her grandchildren the story, she says:
She came, that angel of death [the bad fairy]. She came to the party and she said ‘I curse you, Briar Rose. I curse you and your father the king and your mother the queen and all your uncles and cousins and aunts. And all the people in your village. And all the people who bear your name.’ (Yolen, Briar Rose 19) |
The line “And all the people who bear your name” (Yolen, Briar Rose 19) is what really suggests to Yolen’s readers that this “curse” was actually the torment placed upon the whole Jewish population by Hitler, who led his Nazi Party to torture and murder them by the millions.
One other significant element that connected all three stories is the activation of the curse. The “deep sleep” (Grimm 697) that spread over the princess’s kingdom in “Brier Rose” is also very similar to Księźniczka’s rendition:
A mist. A great mist. It covered the entire kingdom. And everyone However, there is one major difference. According to Księźniczka, most everyone who sleeps never wakes up again (Yolen, Briar Rose). The mist is really the poison gas used in chambers to massacre the Jewish population in the German concentration camps. In Chelmno, Księźniczka
|
is the only one to “wake back up.” She is the only one to “break the spell” (Yolen, Briar Rose).
Subsequently, there are a few more smaller, yet just as important, connecting elements. For example, the brier hedge in both “Brier Rose” and Księźniczka’s fairy tale are associated to the barbed wire fence that is surrounding the concentration camps and trapping the Jewish population inside. Another example is the prince. Whereas the prince is always destined to wake the princess up in both the “Brier Rose” and Księźniczka’s fairy tale, the Prince is actually the nickname given to Josef Potoki, a persecuted homosexual and the leader of a group of partisans who just happens to be in the right place at the right time (Yolen, Briar Rose).
Even without her memories, Księźniczka’s tragic past haunts her. She is unable to “break the spell” on her own, basically forcing her to repeat the same fairy tale over and over again to the generations that come after her. This leads us to the other of Briar Rose’s main female protagonists, Księźniczka’s esteemed granddaughter, Rebecca Berlin. Becca is very similar to her grandmother in both physical appearance and temperament (Yolen, Briar Rose). During her first sleepover, Becca is so angered when Shirley questions the validity of her grandmother’s “Sleeping Beauty” that she says, “That’s how it goes in this house…And if you don’t like it, you’re not my best friend any more” (Yolen, Briar Rose 34). Because Becca has been told her grandmother’s rendition of the story over and over again throughout her childhood, it is not surprising that to her it seems to be the only version (Yolen, Briar Rose).
According to Philippe Codde in his article titled “Transmitted Holocaust Trauma: A Matter Of Myth And Fairy Tales?” Księźniczka’s reaction to her own Holocaust experience by creating a dreamlike and fantastical story is perfectly natural. Codde then asserts that “the third generation [in this case Becca Berlin]…is commonly said to suffer from secondary traumatization or inherited, transmitted, intergenerational or transgenerational trauma” and explains that one of the most likely means in which this trauma is transmitted is through “the mere act of listening to witness testimony about devastating events [that] can make the secondary witness take over some of the traumatic burden.”
When Księźniczka claims to actually be Briar Rose right before she dies, Becca Berlin recognizes that there may have been more behind her grandmother’s fairy tale than she had ever before realized. This awareness coupled with the death of someone who has been very precious to her leads Becca Berlin in search for the missing pieces and answers to the riddle her grandmother has left behind (Yolen, Briar Rose). This seemingly impossible excursion is caused by what Marianne Hirsch designates as “postmemory” (Codde). This term is described as:
Subsequently, there are a few more smaller, yet just as important, connecting elements. For example, the brier hedge in both “Brier Rose” and Księźniczka’s fairy tale are associated to the barbed wire fence that is surrounding the concentration camps and trapping the Jewish population inside. Another example is the prince. Whereas the prince is always destined to wake the princess up in both the “Brier Rose” and Księźniczka’s fairy tale, the Prince is actually the nickname given to Josef Potoki, a persecuted homosexual and the leader of a group of partisans who just happens to be in the right place at the right time (Yolen, Briar Rose).
Even without her memories, Księźniczka’s tragic past haunts her. She is unable to “break the spell” on her own, basically forcing her to repeat the same fairy tale over and over again to the generations that come after her. This leads us to the other of Briar Rose’s main female protagonists, Księźniczka’s esteemed granddaughter, Rebecca Berlin. Becca is very similar to her grandmother in both physical appearance and temperament (Yolen, Briar Rose). During her first sleepover, Becca is so angered when Shirley questions the validity of her grandmother’s “Sleeping Beauty” that she says, “That’s how it goes in this house…And if you don’t like it, you’re not my best friend any more” (Yolen, Briar Rose 34). Because Becca has been told her grandmother’s rendition of the story over and over again throughout her childhood, it is not surprising that to her it seems to be the only version (Yolen, Briar Rose).
According to Philippe Codde in his article titled “Transmitted Holocaust Trauma: A Matter Of Myth And Fairy Tales?” Księźniczka’s reaction to her own Holocaust experience by creating a dreamlike and fantastical story is perfectly natural. Codde then asserts that “the third generation [in this case Becca Berlin]…is commonly said to suffer from secondary traumatization or inherited, transmitted, intergenerational or transgenerational trauma” and explains that one of the most likely means in which this trauma is transmitted is through “the mere act of listening to witness testimony about devastating events [that] can make the secondary witness take over some of the traumatic burden.”
When Księźniczka claims to actually be Briar Rose right before she dies, Becca Berlin recognizes that there may have been more behind her grandmother’s fairy tale than she had ever before realized. This awareness coupled with the death of someone who has been very precious to her leads Becca Berlin in search for the missing pieces and answers to the riddle her grandmother has left behind (Yolen, Briar Rose). This seemingly impossible excursion is caused by what Marianne Hirsch designates as “postmemory” (Codde). This term is described as:
originally designed to describe the |
In other words, Becca Berlin remains fixated on discovering her grandmother’s misplaced identity and past. She cannot let it go even if she wants to. The missing pieces refuse to leave her alone, and she cannot find peace until the puzzle is put together.
In this way, Becca Berlin kind of becomes a sleeping princess of her own. In fact, the woman sitting beside her on her flight to Poland even goes so far as to say, “Sort of a Sleeping Beauty, are you?” (Yolen, Briar Rose 115). Becca Berlin is trapped within a spell of her own making and is lost in the mystification and obscurity of her grandmother’s past. It is not until she meets Josef Potoki, her grandmother’s long lost Prince, that she is able to begin “breaking the spell” (Yolen, Briar Rose).
By looking at Jane Yolen’s Briar Rose in this light, it is recognized that Josef Potoki is the inconspicuous Prince, hero, and breaker of spells by many different means. He “breaks the spell” of him as a drifter by joining a group of partisans and becoming their leader. In her comparison analysis “When Beauty Awakes,” Sarah Baker writes that, in the German version by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, “the princess gains more of an identity [because] she is given a name” (3). Josef Potoki “breaks the spell” placed on Księźniczka by “breathing life into the girl [and] by naming her” (Yolen, Briar Rose 213). He again breaks Księźniczka’s spell of continuing to live her life in hiding as a partisan by giving her his name and sending her on the road towards survival and freedom, in turn also saving her unborn child. Lastly, he “breaks the spell” confining Becca Berlin by connecting her grandmother’s fragments and helping her understand the truth behind her grandmother’s story.
In this way, Becca Berlin kind of becomes a sleeping princess of her own. In fact, the woman sitting beside her on her flight to Poland even goes so far as to say, “Sort of a Sleeping Beauty, are you?” (Yolen, Briar Rose 115). Becca Berlin is trapped within a spell of her own making and is lost in the mystification and obscurity of her grandmother’s past. It is not until she meets Josef Potoki, her grandmother’s long lost Prince, that she is able to begin “breaking the spell” (Yolen, Briar Rose).
By looking at Jane Yolen’s Briar Rose in this light, it is recognized that Josef Potoki is the inconspicuous Prince, hero, and breaker of spells by many different means. He “breaks the spell” of him as a drifter by joining a group of partisans and becoming their leader. In her comparison analysis “When Beauty Awakes,” Sarah Baker writes that, in the German version by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, “the princess gains more of an identity [because] she is given a name” (3). Josef Potoki “breaks the spell” placed on Księźniczka by “breathing life into the girl [and] by naming her” (Yolen, Briar Rose 213). He again breaks Księźniczka’s spell of continuing to live her life in hiding as a partisan by giving her his name and sending her on the road towards survival and freedom, in turn also saving her unborn child. Lastly, he “breaks the spell” confining Becca Berlin by connecting her grandmother’s fragments and helping her understand the truth behind her grandmother’s story.
Jane Yolen’s award-winning novel Briar Rose explores “the imaginative and emotional power of fairy tales in relation to the frightful realities of modern world history and the complexities of family history” (Hanlon). In other words, it fully encompasses what it means to deal with an experience as traumatic as the genocide of the World War II Holocaust. Yolen “breaks the spell” fairy tales have hold over their audience by representing that not all fairy tales contain a happily-ever-after and that those that do have struggled immensely to make it to that stage. This is very clear as the last chapter comes to a close, reading:
‘And they lived happily ever after.’ ‘The prince, too, Gemma?’ asked Becca. ‘I don’t think I was every really clear on that point.’…‘You are a troublemaker. You always were,’ Gemma said…‘Happily every after,’ Gemma said firmly, ‘means exactly what it says.’ And…she went directly up the stairs. (Yolen, Briar Rose 238-239) |
By using Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s fairy tale “Brier Rose,” Yolen has been able to create a world where the devastation and cruelty of history can cast its curse on many people in many different ways. The only way to survive is through the courage and determination it takes to “break the spell.”
References:
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