Anna O

Anna’s nickname of “Sleeping Beauty” is representative of her stunning looks, high-class lifestyle, ladylike demeanor, and four-year-long sleep. She’s called “Sleeping Beauty, a figure of myth and reality” (111), a legend, and a sensation because of her circumstances, and thus the fairy tale functions as a recurring motif throughout the novel. Anna’s many fans and true-crime-obsessed media outlets also use this symbolic name to identify her as akin to a princess. To fit the princess mold, she’s supposed to be tender, stunning, kind, and innocent—someone who is incapable of evil. These ideas make people like Lola write that “we must do whatever we can to help save her” (61). Anna is the public’s victimized princess.

Meanwhile, Ben’s last name of Prince is her counterpart symbolizing acts of chivalry and the part of the savior. Anna is the damsel in distress, a real sleeping beauty, while Ben’s role is to rescue her. Ben fits into this princely standard many times, but especially when he builds a kinship with Anna and chooses to protect her from her trial: “I am a gatekeeper between Anna and the world. I’m the prince from the fairy tale, sworn to protect and liberate her, however odious that notion is to modern sensibilities” (194).