Insightful Critical Response, Demonstrating an Understanding of the Effect of Medium on Meaning

The story of "Briar Rose" uses one story to describe and relate another deeper meaning. The details of one story parallel or overshadow this hidden story now being revealed. The use of the story of a variation of "Sleeping Beauty" is retold by Gemma, a character in the novel, her own personal story is retold and given shape through the fable. She has replaced the horror of Holocaust memories with a fairy tale in the attempt to share her history with her grandchildren. The retelling is a mirror into her past an reflects an actual recorded human history. According to a writer from Britain, David Lodge, the use of the medium of the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" in this case, resonates to the impression or memory of her present life (Yolen, 1992).

Briar Rose" tells a story...
[ View Full Essay]