Fairy Tales

Symbol Analysis

     The concept of fairy tales reoccurs in the novel Train, yet none of the characters get their fairytale ending. If they did end like a fairy tale, Alex and Kizzy would not have been deported, Victor would have never died, and Tsura would have accepted her brother for who he is. A fairytale ending would, in turn, allow Marko to have the man he loves and help soothe Elise’s mental health.  Yet, the original Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales that none of us know are full of darker themes, and not many happy endings.

     One way that fairy tales are shown in Train is the fairy tale park. This park was created to honor German children who died in an epidemic. Tsura, shortly following this information, begins to think about how she and her family has been nothing like a happy fairy tale. Her past has been the darker versions by the Brothers Grimm. This shows that she feels like after honoring dead children, the Nazis were now going out and killing more. She says “the fairytale fountain had been built decades earlier as a memorial to dead German children killed by an epidemic. Tsura placed her hand on her lower stomach and pushed away a painful childhood memory.”

     Some specific fairy tales that are mentioned to have statues in the fairy tale park are Cinderella, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, and Little Red Riding Hood. These characters have parallels to characters from Train. Snow White could represent Elise. Snow White trusts the old woman like Elise trusts Deiter, and they both end up being betrayed by those trusted people. They both end their story Kizzy represents Little Red Riding Hood. They are both young and innocent girls who are captured, Kizzy by Nazis, and Red by the Wolf. At the end of both of their stories, they are reunited with family. A big difference is that Red escapes the Wolf’s belly, but Kizzy does not. Kizzy stays stuck on the train, and can’t escape.

Sadly none of the characters have a happy ending. With two characters gone, the other four have to find a way to move on, and find their own fairy tale. And when they do find their fairy tale, they will forever be haunted by the darker time they experienced. Danny Cohen alludes to the fairy tales to show how after all of the hardships, they will still find their fairy tale.