Briar Rose (post 7)

Chapters 27-29

Potocki is telling Becca and Magda about his experiences during the war and his experiences in a camp and his escape to the woods, and eventually finding his way home. However, he picks up some equiptment and rations and continues on where he is found by a group of people who keep him hostage.

There isn't anything said about Gemma yet, or how the two, Gemma and Josef, know one another. However, there are still four chapters left and hopefully we'll learn something about Gemma's past.

In response to the story of Briar Rose and the way it's being told through a Holocaust story it's very interesting. Hitler can be seen as Maleficent, the wicked hag who causes everyone in the kingdom to fall asleep. And, the thorns are mirrored by barbed wire and the SS and Gestapo. The camps are considered the palaces, however it is all less dreamy then the story of Sleeping Beauty. Hopefully, we'll find out who the prince is that awakens Gemma.

-Nicole

Briar Rose/Jane Eyre- A connection

Chapters 16-25 (continued)

Throughout these chapters a lot has been mentioned about the Holocaust because we are now getting stories from people who know what has happened in certain parts of Europe. Josef Potocki, for example, was in Chelmno where Gemma was. However, Potocki wasn't placed in the concentration camps because he was Jewish, but because he was gay. People who were considered as "the other" were put away to be killed. This included a huge amount of people from different backgrounds, races, and orientations. It brought to mind Bertha Mason in Bronte's Jane Eyre. She was locked in the closet because she was said to be mad, however what drove her husband Rochester to lock her up was her past and how different and foreign it was to him. And, look at that, how did Bertha die? She lit Thornfield on fire and jumped to her death from a balcony. The fire represents the rage Bertha and Jane felt throughout their doubling character life, however ties back to the Holocaust and how tons of people had died.

-Nicole

Briar Rose (post 6)

Chapters 16-25

Ok, so I've read a lot, nine chapters. I'll try to not summarize completely, however there are a few things that may need it just to catch us up in the book.

Becca has decided to go to Polan in search of Gemma's past. So far she has gone to Chelmno or Kulmhof. From what I am gathering it's a city or village that lives years behind the time period of the book. The people in this community still use horse and carriage and speak only Polish while in other parts of Poland people speak a little of English.
Becca and Magda, her translator, are not welcomed in the community by the habitants, however come across a priest that is willing to talk to them. He mentions a friend that lives in the city that their hotel is in. His name is Josef Potocki, and is willing to tell his story. He meets with the two girls later that night in the hotel and recognizes the picture of Gemma. He asks the girls to his house for lunch the next day.

So far there has been some quotes which are worth looking at with special care:

"'In Chelmno...all the roots there were severed.'" (107)
Throughout the novel trees have been often mentioned. However, roots here are used to show what could have been family ties or heritages. People were ashamed of what had happened at Chelmno and didn't want to be associated with it. Also, trees are often in the woods where Chelmno is located. It like Hansel and Gretel. The woods signified a new time period which involved a new kind of maturity. And like in Hansel and Gretel it is to survive.

"'It is a kind of cake, with wonderful spices. And baked in the shape of grand ladies and gentlemen. Maybe...even in the shape of a Ksiezniczka!'...'Gingerbread?', Becca suggested." (125)
Again, this brings up the idea of Hansel and Gretel. Which in the story of the two kids bread is symbolic for maturity and growing up. It's supposed to help them find their way home, but gets eaten by birds. Here, however, the gingerbread is in shapes of royalty and important figures almost as a clue to lead her to Gemma's past to her Ksiezniczka's past. And, by completing this journey I think that Becca will find a new kind of confidence in herself allowing her to grow as a person. The story is, in a way, a bildungstroman where Becca will come to a self realization. There are often doubling characters in fairy tales, however it's usually between the wicked stepmother and the witch. But here, Becca and Gemma seem to be doubling characters, experiencing the same journey, trying to make sense of something unbelievable, and learning something about themselves along the way.

"'Once it was believed birch trees housed souls of the dead.'" (132)
Again, the mention of trees brings to mind the family and heritage idea. With the souls of people staying in birch trees their roots aren't able to spread with their story dying with them.

"'In the woods. We were partisans. It is a long story...'" (157)
Again, the idea of the woods, and the maturity that takes place while trying to survive. Also, since the woods are secluded away from others and society a person is able to learn who is really their for them. Like Hansel and Gretel are there for one another, Josef and Gemma were there to help one another survive.

"They were, of course, living in the belly of the wolf. They never thought they would be devoured."(165)
The phrase, "in the belly of the beast", means basically that a person is already in the situation and there isn't really a way of getting out easily. So, Gemma and Josef were already involved in the war and there was no way for them to get out of what was going around them. However, the choice of wolf in place of beast makes if magical and more fairy tale like. Little Red Riding Hood afterall was being chased by a wolf and the three little piggies were hiding from the big bad wolf. Therefore, the choice emphasizes the fairy tale, while adding a little more of a scare to the description.

-Nicole

Grimms Fairy Tale Classics- Briar Rose. I used to watch these when I was little!

I noticed a few things like the 13th witch is green and bigger than the others which is a little stereotypical. It reminded me of The Wizard of Oz.
The prince wants, "to find the answer to this mystery" like Becca. But it is not a kiss that wakes Briar Rose, but the drawing of blood when he pricks his finger on a thorn. And, is Hitler the evil Maleficent that causes everyone to "sleep"? Or is it someone else...

Jane Eyre-Social Status

Jane's relationship with Rochester has been an interesting one from the beginning. There was, like in fairy tales, a sense of social barriers estricting them from having the relationship they wanted. However, in Jane Eyre the barriers they faced were much stronger than any I have seen in the fairy tales thus far.

The first encounter between Jane and Rochester took place during Jane's trip to town. Rochester who was on his horse has hurt his ankle and falls to Jane's level, who was walking in the same area as the dog. Even during their first encounter there was a social difference between the two. Rochester wouldn't allow Jane to help him because she is a governess and she is a woman, meaning that she is not his social equal. However, there is Blanche Ingram (equivalent to stepsisters in Cinderella), who pine for Rochester's attention and feel as though it is rightfully theirs do to their social status, however do not end up with him. Ingram constantly puts Jane down just as the stepsisters do to Cinderella out of jealousy and fear. However, like the evil stepmother (Mrs. Reed), Jane must overcome Ingram's attempts to discourage her and Rochester's relationship.

However, as the novel continues Rochester's affections grow towards Jane causing him to run to Jane when in need of help multiple times. For example, when Rochester is in need of assistance with Mason he runs to Jane instead of his social equal Colonel Bent. Showing that Rochester is ditching what is considered to be socially acceptable. He dumps the idea of being with Ingram, admitting to Jane it was to make her jealous, and pursues Jane. Jane accepts the engagement, however their wedding is broken off when she finds out who the woman in the attic really is. She leaves and spends time with her cousins where she learns she has inherited money, raising her social status. Rochester ends up blind and handicapped, however she goes back to him feeling as though they can finally be together with out her feeling inadequate. Jane must defeat the stepmother and sister characters, and gain something in order to be Rochester's social equal.

-Nicole

Jane Eyre (to be continued)

Ok, so Jane Eyre isn't your basic everyday fairy tale. It has twists and turns, however the novel does have some very fairy tale like ideas running through it.

Jane doesn't have a father or a mother throughout the story, however she has an aunt, Mrs. Reed, who treats her just as awful as any stepmother presented in a fairy tale, including the Grimm ones. Mrs. Reed enjoys locking Jane in the Red Room until she causes herself to become sick with uncontrollable emotions, and turning her back when her children, John, Eliza, and Georgiana, torture Jane mentally and physically. The evil aunt, like the stepmother, is an obstacle that Jane must overcome to become who she wants to be.

Jane has many "fairy godmothers" throughout the novel. There is always someone around to help her and make sure she is doing well. She travels place to place facing new hardships with new "cruel stepmothers" however there is always someone there she can turn to if in need.

Also, the other similar idea that runs throughout Jane Eyre and fairy tales is acceptance, and social status. Jane wants to be accepted by others and be on the same level, socially, as Mr. Rochester, her prince that she saves in the end. However, that is a blog for another day.

=]
Nicole

TPCASTT Gretel

Gretel
Andrea Hollander Budy

A woman is born to this: sift, measure, mix, roll thin.
She learns the dough until it folds into her skin and there is
no difference. Much later she tries to lose it. Makes bets
with herself and wins enough to keep trying. One day she begins
that long walk in unfamiliar woods. She means to lose everything
she is. She empties her dark pockets, dropping enough crumbs
to feed all the men who have ever touched her or wished.
When she reaches the clearing she is almost transparent—
so thin the old woman in the house seizes
only the brother. You know the rest: She won’t escape that oven. She’ll eat
the crumbs meant for him, remember something of his touch, reach
for the sifter and the cup.

T(itle)- Reminds me of the story of Hansel and Gretel. Maybe about the sister?
P(araphrase)-The paraphrase is pretty self explanatory. It is about a woman who has a weight problem and how she struggles throughout life an how she tries and tries to be thin until she becomes so skinny that she is almost transparent.
C(onnotations)- The cooking register is very prominent throughout the entire poem. Also, there is the fairy tale that can be seen through the poem.
A(ttitude)-I find the attitude to be very sincere. However, I find it to also be a little bitter, as in a way to stick it to society and their values.
S(hift)-There are only a few shifts. The beginning is talking about the cycle of women and their weight and then it goes into the fairy tale.
T(heme)- The poem talks about the stereotypical view of women nowadays. That women try to fit into society's opinions of a perfect body and will go to the extremes to look good to the point where they almost look "transparent".
T(itle)- Gretel is the allusion to the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale, however it has little to do with the poem besides the fact that it ties in with the whole idea of the witch fattening Hansel up in order to eat him.