Briar Rose | Topics for Discussion & Projects

Briar Rose Key Questions

One of Yolen's concerns has been to make the fairy-tale form relevant to the social and political concerns of postWorld War II society. Her work belongs to a trend in which the boundaries of the form are pushed and new possibilities explored. Because of the breakthrough nature of its conception, Briar Rose should provoke stimulating discussion. A good line to pursue is the revisionist or experimental aspect of the novel.

1. What do you think of utilizing the fairy tale the way Yolen uses it in Briar Rose? Does it spoil the tale in any way?

2. Discuss how the fairy-tale aspects reinforce the novel's plot development and characterizations.

3. Relate Gemma's remark that "the future is when people talk about the past" to Stan's quotation from Shakespeare that "the past is prologue."

Compare the characters Gemma and Stan in terms of...
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