How we cite our quotes: Chapter.Paragraph
Quote #1
"The castle is yours. It is all I have to leave to you. You must find it. The castle in the sleeping woods. Promise me." (2.77)
Tfw your grandma tells you you've inherited a castle and all you get is her bummer of a Holocaust story.
Quote #2
The fact that Gemma had them tucked away in a box all these years, carrying the box with her to the nursing home, had to mean something. Gemma. Genevieve. Dawna. Gitl. Briar Rose. Whoever. (6.7)
That is quite a list of names. It's sort of like if we said you can call us Shmoop. Shmope. The Shmooperinos. Harry. Alexander Hamilton. Whatever.
Quote #3
"It's all so long ago. And memory is such a strange and unwieldy device. We remember odd things. Like the old woman who kissed the ground when she arrived." (12.124)
A subtle theme in Briar Rose is about the imperfections of memory, even for characters who don't experience actual memory loss. Maybe Christopher Nolan should direct the film (but without the creepy tattoo thing, let's hope).
Quote #4
"The Nazis are dead, Harvey," Marge said, her hands once more smoothing down her hair. "For you they are dead," he said. "Not for me." (12.136-12.137)
For Harvey, a Holocaust survivor, the past seems fresh and near, even decades later. **Shiver.**
Quote #5
"If one is not optimistic in Poland, then there is too much to weep about," Magda said. "In the not-so-past history are many tragedies. Every family can recite them." (20.47)
Briar Rose describes Poland as a place that remains very much mired in its dark past. Hey, at least the food is good.
Quote #6
"You think I am foolish about this quest? My sisters think it's crazy." "It is not crazy to want to know the past. It is only crazy to live there…." (24.7-24.8)
Magda says there is a difference between knowing the past and living in it. That sounds pretty deep. Can you tell us what she means?
Quote #7
Potocki took a linen handkerchief from his pocket and leaned forward.…"The dead," he said. "The dead come back to life so unexpectedly." (24.36)
A photograph of Gemma is enough to move Josef to tears. We get a feeling there's a sliver of happiness mixed in with his sadness. After all, once she left, he never knew what happened to her until boom! Granddaughter on the loose.
Quote #8
She…got immediately into a deep conversation with the man across the aisle about late flights. It quickly turned into a discussion of her trip to Poland." "Is it pretty?" he asked. "I've never been there." "Not pretty," she said. "Not to me. But...well...haunting." He nodded as if he understood. "Lots of old stories buried in those cities and towns, I bet." (32.88-32.91)
It makes sense that Becca found Poland to be a bummer, but there were some good moments during her trip. Name at least three sites that Becca seemed to enjoy during her travels with Magda. And for the record, in case you're ever in Poland and not on a Holocaust hunt, it can be plenty pretty.
Quote #9
"I have no memories in my head but one." (29.89)
Gemma's near-death experience in Chelmno erased her memories of the past. Do you think that trauma was physical or psychological? Explain your answer.
Quote #10
"I don't honestly think she remembered. Not you, not my grandfather, not any of it consciously. It had all become a fairy tale for her. She must have told us the story of Briar Rose a million times. But it was all there, buried." (32.42)
Becca thinks of Gemma's fairy tale as a type of coded memory. This matches up pretty closely with how scholars think of folk tales and fairy tales as collective memories of people who lived in a particular time and place. Cool, huh? (Aside from the trauma part, we mean).