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The pacing at the beginning of the book is very very quick. The rhinoceroses are introduced much sooner than one would expect, and the characters are described in thorough detail from the second page on. I have never been able to read for long periods of time (Partially due to my ADHD), however this was the first book that I was so interested in that my fidgeting and other distracting traits did not interfere with my reading and I got the first 50 pages knocked out within the first 20-30 minutes.

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Eugène Ionesco was one of the major figures in the Theatre of the Absurd, the French dramatic movement of the 1940s and 50s that emphasized the absurdity of the modern condition. Born in Romania in 1912, Ionesco spent his childhood in Paris until his family returned to its homeland. Ionesco quickly developed a hatred for Romania's conservatism and anti-Semitism and returned to France in 1938.

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This book is considered to be an "Anti-Nazi" work, and is usually interpreted as a response to the sudden upsurge of fascism during the events preceding World War II, and explores the themes of conformity, culture, and morality.

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Ionesco skirted the problem of trying to represent the Holocaust realistically by dressing his play in heavy but apparent symbolism, rhinos of course. His unorthodox symbol of humans as rhinoceroses serves multiple purposes for the story, including representing man as animalistic and dangerous and criticizing humans for their lack of progress from animals.

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Berenger is the main character of the novel, and therefore is very heavily involved in dialogue with other characters. Ionesco is effective in characterizing Berenger through dialogue between him and Jean, Daisy, and Dudard. At the start of the novel, he is made out to be a lazy, aimless alcoholic and holds true to that description until the very end.

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Jean epitomizes the Nietzschean conception of the "super-man" who is above morality. He believes in the strength of his will and rationalist intellect. He is honestly made out to be a huge douche throughout the beginning of the novel because he essentially comes over to his friend's house simply to yell at him for his life choices. His arrogance and unspoken disdain for the common man, especially for Berenger's lackadaisical attitude toward life, foreshadows his metamorphosis into a savage, vicious rhinoceros.

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Daisy appears as if she, along with Berenger, cares deeply about humanity, but she continually urges Berenger to acclimate himself and not to feel guilty about the rhinoceroses. Her love for him appears as an ephemeral desire that flickers on and off and her constant avoidance of responsibility and her lack of concern for her fellow man reveals her desires for Berenger as selfish despite the good intentions she often has for him

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The middle of the novel truthfully did not have much going on in terms of plot and character development. The entire mid-section of the book seems pretty redundant and slow and because of that I found it much much harder to enjoy and comprehend what I was reading. I felt that I was scanning pages as if it was a chore.

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The end of the novel is fairly quick paced simply due to the amount of action that takes place. However, the plot is a bit predictable at this point in the story and therefore negates some of the quick pacing because you knew it was going to happen. For instance, it was like walking on one of those moving sidewalks at the airport because it made the novel quicker, but only just a little bit.

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The play that I had chosen to read, Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco, does not feature a narrator at any point in the text. Due to this piece of information, I could not accurately respond to any of the guiding questions for this column and therefore have chosen to leave this section blank. If you have any concerns over this matter, feel free to contact me at one of the following.

Email: mattchaudhary28@gmail.com
Cell:
(719) 439-3747
Work:
(719) 487-3200

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Passage Where The Grocer's Wife's Cat Gets Trampled By A Rhinoceros

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Passage Where The Grocer's Wife's Cat Gets Trampled By A Rhinoceros

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I chose this passage simply because it got me thinking. The Wife goes on and on describing the loss of her "Pussy" and then repeats the word SEVERAL times throughout the text. It made me wonder if that word according to Ionesco had no alternative meanings besides a domesticated feline, or if he did have an alternate meaning for the word and therefore used the repetition in her speech to characterize her as vulgar, or direct. The world may never know!!

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With the majority of the city turning into rhinoceros, that means the rhinoceroses assumed the roles of the humans they took over including their careers. This reminded me of when the animals in Animal Farm were trying to establish a government and set up their society.

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At the end of the novel, there is a point after Daisy leaves Berenger to metamorphose into a rhinoceros where Berenger is contemplating whether or not he wants to become a rhino and discusses the beauty of the ferociousness of the rhinos. This scene reminded me of Life of Pi because it has been said that Pi never actually was with a tiger on the boat but was only imagining himself as a tiger, due to his animalistic nature that he was resorted back to in his situation.

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I Met A Very Nice Trans-gendered Kid At A STUCO Conference Once

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I Met A Very Nice Trans-gendered Kid At A STUCO Conference Once

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In the novel, Berenger goes on a long speech about how he doesn't understand why other people want to become rhinoceroses so bad, and he wonders if it's simply because they don't feel like they were born into the right skin which made me think a lot about the time I met Jayden Feldman at a Stuco conference and I was amazed by his confidence in his transformation, but I was also a bit confused because I lacked understanding of what it is like to truly feel like I was born in the wrong body.

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The purpose of this novel is to increase awareness to the reader of topics such as individuality and conformity, as well as symbolize World War 2 and the lack of individual action that took place. Throughout the story, ideas of change, comfortably in one's self, and purpose in life are illustrated within multiple characters, including Berenger and Daisy.

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The author's quick exposition and introduction to the rhinoceroses intrigues the reader from page 1. Such later plot points including the firemen turning into rhinos, Daisy breaking up with Berenger and turning into a rhino, and Berenger deciding he will fight them are huge points for the reader to continue to flip the page. The entirety of the novel is interesting, exciting, and the plot is well placed throughout to hold interest.

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The novel flows fairly well throughout, except for the middle of the novel. The only slow part of the book is when the Logician is attempting to solve why the rhino incident is occurring and the lack of progress made in the novel is representative of the lack of questioning and wave of conformity during World War 2

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Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy reminded me of the scene in Rhinoceros where Berenger is alone in his bathroom, going insane contemplating the benefits of joining the rhinos or whether or not he should continue to fight the race of rhinoceroses in order to save the human race. He decides to fight the rhinos, just as Hamlet decides to live.

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Berenger goes through the biggest metamorphosis of them all and he is the only person in the city to stay human. At first, he is a lazy, selfish, aimless bore who had no life ambitions. Then after the rhinos invaded, he ends up being the sole person responsible for defeating the rhinoceroses and saving the human race.

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Jean does not make much of a transformation at all, except for his change into a rhinoceros. However, at first he is depicted as an arrogant, heartless jerk and he stays that way all the way until he becomes a rhino. All of the characters in this story who could not internally change their bad ways were forced to change by metamorphosing into a rhino.

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The overall setting and time period of the novel reminded me of Pride and Prejudice. This book took place in France as opposed to England, however the formal, classy society transfers over to both stories.

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I thought this was a very very good way to end the novel, as it truly gets the reader thinking. It made me wonder why he was contemplating becoming a rhino or not because it wasn't a choice, and therefore he had no control over whether he was human or not. It also made me wonder about what the hell his plan is for fighting off the rhinos and saving the human race, especially because all of his friends were changed.

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Rhinos Becoming Seemingly More Beautiful

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Rhinos Becoming Seemingly More Beautiful

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Throughout the novel, more and more rhinos are introduced to their town as they take over, and as the number of rhinos increases, so did the amount of appreciation and respect that the characters had for these creatures. Perhaps it is the appeal of the majority and fitting in, and not wanting to be the odd man out that made the rhinoceroses more attractive.

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The language of the text reminded me of Song of Solomon. Just as Milkman would say the "F" word or other vulgar slang, this book certainly had its fair share of inappropriate words or phrasing as well.

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The Scene Where The Rhinos Became Fireman

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The Scene Where The Rhinos Became Fireman

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This passage occurs as Berenger, Jean, Daisy, Dudard, and other co-workers are all meeting in the office building and are looking across the street to the fire station. This is the first time in the novel where they realize that the rhinoceroses are not going anywhere, and they will take over society. I think the language used to describe the future by Berenger and Jean is quite elegant in the sense that it was inspirational.

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Throughout the play, the ideas of individuality, conformity, helplessness, and bettering one's situation are explored. Ionesco wanted to bring increasing attention to the difficulty of staying true to one's self in the presence of overwhelming change. I felt compelled to question my life and the actions and decisions that I have made, asking myself if those things were truly leading me to where I needed to go. These ideas serve to further the meaning of the work, which is that one must be comfortable in their identity because it is the one thing that is unchangeable.