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Metaphors In Briar Rose

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Fairy tale is a genre that persists in literature despite its modifications because of its capacity of adaptation. People have been telling stories for thousands of years but these have changed according to the culture and situation of each specific time. Although these statements can seem obvious, I started this paper not being aware of the huge capacity of this genre to narrate all kinds of stories, including the toughest ones. This idea has been proven in Yolen’s Briar Rose, as the retelling of the traditional fairy tale with some modifications has been able to portray the painful memories of Gemma, a traumatized survivor of the Holocaust. Being blocked in melancholia, she manages to transmit her memories, although in a compulsive manner, …show more content…

The use of specific metaphors such as the mist covering the castle, the briary hedge surrounding it and the bad fairy with a uniform confirm the connection of her story with concentration camps. These are her main strategy to repress cruel events that return to her memory and make her suffer. Nevertheless, this pain finally finishes on her deathbed when she experiments her process of mourning and she accepts being the protagonist of her fairy tale. Being acknowledged as a victim of the Holocaust allows her to overcome her shock, disconnect her past and her present and carry on with her future.
Although this genre has evolved in some elements such as its motifs or structure as I have explained, it maintains its conventional function of transmitting values and confront human conflicts. Driven by this educational aspect, the fact that this book has been introduced in schools to teach about the Holocaust is not fortuitous. This is a book that retells a traditional fairy tale that children could be familiarized with but describing a modern issue. Furthermore, I consider that this book narrates facts about the Holocaust in a contemporary manner as it deviates from the traditional gender roles of fairy tales. The rescued woman is not

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