The princess in the Grimm's Tale is portrayed as an acquiescent main character and a passive heroine. In the tale, his fate is decided before he is old enough to speak his first words. Throughout the story, he continues to lack the wits to alter his destiny, supporting the idea that his character has no purpose. The king and queen organize a party to which they invite the wise women of the kingdom so that they will be kindly disposed towards the princess. However, there were only twelve gold plates and thirteen wise women. The Grimm's emphasis on tableware is an arbitrary determining factor of fate. The thirteenth wise woman goes to the celebration to curse the princess. “She [the thirteenth wise woman] wanted to take revenge for not being invited…she cried out loudly: 'In the princess's fifteenth year she will prick herself with a spindle and fall dead.'” The princess's fate is controlled by external factors. Through the Grimm's use of indirect characterization, readers perceive the princess as a character with no real purpose. One of the single actions the princess takes in the story is touching a spindle, the one action she shouldn't have done, which causes her to fall into a 100-year long deep sleep. Her character then lies there and waits for her prince to come and save her. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The princess is cast in a traditional sexist role. In more modern times, the idea is prevalent that it is important to portray women in roles other than typical “traditional” ones to teach young readers that they have equal opportunities. In Yolen's novel, the female protagonist, Becca, works as a reporter, which may be an attempt by the author to show her as strong and resilient as pioneering women in journalism faced subsequent discrimination within the profession. In the early 1900s, journalism was said to be a “man's job” because it was thought to be too risky for women. Yolen gives Becca a clear purpose in the novel. After her grandmother's death, Becca begins to believe that there is a hidden meaning behind the fairy tale Briar Rose that her grandmother always told before going to sleep. As a devoted young journalist, she decides to write a story discovering the truth about her grandmother. Yolen makes it clear that this story is important to Becca's character as she is emotionally attached. Stan observes, "I don't think you'll be happy until you find out who your grandmother was, Becca." Through the following example of direct characterization Yolen shows the audience that Becca is not passive like the princess in the Grimm story. “….He always had such physical reactions: able to function in the immediate emergency, falling apart later.” Yolen portrays Becca as a driven person and readers perceive her as the character the author uses to move the action forward in the novel. Additionally, Yolen uses indirect characterization to describe Becca as a smart character which makes female readers especially respect her since she is easily relatable to them. For example, when Becca asked a man from another newspaper if he could send copies of some articles, he replied “Sure, honey. Just give me your name and address." Yolen then writes "She let the honey pass and told him what he needed to know." The author portrays Becca as someone with a strong sense of right and wrong, who chooses her battles, as opposed to the representation of the princess as a passive victim. Other female characters in the.