PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Major Characters
-- Becca Berlin: granddaughter of Gemma, journalist, keeps Gemmas promise to go to Poland and discover her past. Becca is a dynamic character, her point of view on Gemmas fairy tale has changed as she found out the true, horrific meaning behind it.
Major Characters
-- Gemma: hides her past from her family until she is on her death bed. Gemma is a static character, she sticks to her story of "sleeping beauty" till the day she dies.
-- Josef Patocki: a gay man who rescued Gemma from a concentration camp with "a kiss of life". Josef is a static character, he doesn't change at all he only relives his past.
Major Characters
-- Magda: young blonde woman who translates for and leads Becca through Poland. Magda is a static character. Although she travels with Becca on her journey to uncover Gemmas past, she stays the same- sweet, careing, and helpful.
-- Stan: Beccas boss who takes interest in and helps her quest to find her grandmothers past. Stan is a static character, he encourages Becca to go on her journey throughout the whole book and never changes.
Minor characters
-- The Avenger: husband of Gemma, killed by nazi
-- Randolph Feist: a high school teacher who helps Becca look into her past
-- Father Stashu: a priest who helps Becca find information on the concentration camp in Poland and shows tells her about Josef Patocki
-- Sylvia and Shana Berlin: older sisters of Becca with little interest in Gemmas past
Becca: I chose the dialogue because the book is about Gemma's "fairy tales", that Becca travels across the world to unfold and find the truth behind
Gemma: I chose this text because Gemma's stories were about a young lady named "Briar Rose". When Gemma dies, she confesses she's briar, and asks Becca to find the truth of what really happen and who Gemma really is.
Magda: I picked this quote because Magda was the one to show Becca around. If it wasn't for Magda, Becca wouldn't have met the people she was introduced to, or seen the places Magda shown her.
Stan: This quote is a good example of how he persuaded Becca to go through with finding "her story".
Josef: I chose his quote because that's how he begins his important story that helps Becca.
Symbol 1
Rose wrapped in wire
-- "All around the castle, a briary hedge began to grow, with thorns as sharp as barbs.” (58)
-- "But do you know courage?’ asked the prince. And so saying, he put his right hand into the thorns." (87)
Symbol two
White Birch Tree
-- "once it was believed birch trees housed souls of the dead"
-- "on either side of the path white birch trees gleamed like their souls of the new dead” (135)
exposition/rising action
- Setting- Becca's house as a child and adult
- She then travels to Poland for 3 weeks
- Atmosphere- Poland is depressing at the camp.
- Gemma tells story of Sleeping beauty in a flashback
- Gemma on death bed making Becca promise to find the castle from the story
CLIMAX
- Becca is told to talk to Josef Potoki
- Learns that Gemma was in a concentration camp
- Gemma was thought to be dead after being gassed but wasn't
- Josef saved Gemma's life with CPR
Falling action resolution
- Everything that happened in the story relates to Gemma's life
- The castle was a concentration camp
- The Bad fairy was the Nazis or Hitler
- "The Kiss of Life" was when Josef saved her
- Becca comes home knowing the horrible truth behind the story tale
Theme, CONFLICT AND POV
- The Theme is avoid breaking promises
- "Promise me you will find the castle. Promise me you will find it. The castle in the sleeping woods. Promise mr" (Yolen 16)
- "I swear. On... On your gave, Gemma" (Yolen 16)
- Becca deals with internal conflict because she is scared she'll find out terrible things about Gemma
- the POV is 3rd person because it uses the words Becca, he, she, and they
Literary devices
-- Allusion: Sleeping beauty. Throughout the book we go back and forth between reality and the story of sleeping beauty
-- Irony: Josef represents the prince and acted like a prince, but he is a homosexual
-- Repetition: the book repeats "I am Briar Rose" over and over throughout the whole book
Literary Devices
-- Simile: "she fought for her child like a lioness' against the nazzis" this compares her to a lion, she is very protective and will do anything for her child.
-- Flashback: Every other chapter is a flashback into Gemmas past during the Holocaust and the story of Sleeping Beauty
Conclusion:
This is a good collage bound book because of the many literary devices and the relationship to history.