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¶ … Briar Rose" and "The Accident" are both stories told by Holocaust survivors that take the reader back to the days of concentration camps, reveal the horrors of their experiences, and show how they are forced to deal with them decades later in completely different worlds. Both stories take place in modern day, where people are the survivors cannot fathom such horrific acts. Both survivors deal with their pain by shutting down but both have different ways of finding peace.
Jane Yolen's "Briar Rose" tells the story of the main character, Becca, and her search to discover her dead grandmother's past. The story mixes present day with memories of the Holocaust, and is written like "Sleeping Beauty," the fairy tale. When her grandmother, Gemma, dies, Becca finds several clues to her past: a box with keepsakes, old pictures, a ticket stub, a man's passport, an engraved ring, and newspaper clippings. Becca also has memories of the story of "Briar Rose" or "Sleeping Beauty," which was told to her many times by Gemma.
Her clues lead her to Poland, where she meets Josef, a main character, who helps her dig up the past. By the end of the novel, Gemma's past is unlocked and it is shocking to discover what the woman endured in her lifetime. Gemma's tale of "Briar Rose" was used to help her cope with the horrible things she suffered. Josef finds some sort of peace because he was able to help others. And Becca is able to move on because she finally understands what Gemma's life was about....
All three main characters in this story visibly discover emotional peace and healing in unique ways.
Jane Yolen, in "Briar Rose," uses fiction to describe the real tragedies of the Holocaust. Gemma was held in an abandoned castle until it was her time to be gassed to death. However, underground partisans see her move in the death pit. One of them, the Avenger, who later marries Gemma, pulled her out and handed her to Josef, who feels her breathing stop.
Josef could feel her die in his arms. So he laid her down on the ground and, putting his mouth on hers, the taste of vomit bitter on his lips, he tried to give her breath," Yolen writes.
When she regains her health, the partisans ask her who she is and where she came from. "I do not know," she responds. "I have no memories in my head but one...a fairy tale, in it I am a princess in a castle and a great mist comes over us. Only I am kissed awake."
At this point, Gemma's new life begins. In her mind, to cope with the trauma, she is a princess kissed back to life by her prince. Even when she finds her way to America, she never regains her memories of the past. Becca sees this as strange. While most grandparents tell their grandchildren stories of their childhood and background, Gemma only tells the story of "Briar Rose." This story helped her to heal.
On the other hand, Josef found inner peace by helping others, in a way trying to forgive himself for his insensitive actions. He grew up…
Bibliography
Raymond, Allen. Jane Yolen: creative storyteller. Early Years. 1983.
Cargas, Harry J., ed. Telling the Tale: A Tribute to Elie Wiesel on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday: Essays, Reflections, and Poems. Time Being Books, 1993.
Wiesel, Elie. The Accident. Anne Borchardt, 1962.
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