I prefer Anne Sexton's transformation of Briar Rose because at the end she makes Briar Rose seem much more human. She can't sleep for she's afraid of her dreams and of never waking again, and I feel that the story seems more realistic because fear is such a universal human feeling. Also, the description of her under the influence of drugs is incredibly haunting and disturbing. Sexton makes is sound as though she is numbly sleepwalking through the rest of her life, which I feel is another universal human characteristic that we can all relate to.
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Narrative is determined not by a desire to narrate
but by a desire to exchange. (Roland Barthes, S/Z)
Briar Rose and narcotics