The Cruelty Of Humanity-Fragrance Of Roses-Speech 14/15
The Escape of the Old Man
Many stories, books, documentaries and movies were made and are still being made about the most frightening period in the man’s history – the period of the World War II. When you hear those words you immediately relate them with Hitler and Auschwitz. But there’s one short story, about a former commandant of Auschwitz – the story about “The Fragrance of Roses” for which I will be speaking.
The poor town that cannot even be found in the atlas which is made from the same grey granite as the mountain it clings to, seemed perfect as a refuge for the old man. He lived alone in the last house of the village. We’re feeling sorry for him, because in the villager’s eyes he was seen as an intruder. But he wasn’t alone. He had his glasshouse where he grew delicate and unique roses. They symbolise love, purity and tenderness. This is probably the greatest juxtaposition which the writer used it to show the big contrast between the past and the present in the old man’s life. His past is dark with no love, with death but his present is full of roses. He uses many manipulations in this story and we get confused very easy. We don’t know wether he grew the roses so he can make up for the death in Auschwitz by creating new life, or he grew them because he thought that it was the best way of control some other life.
Although he was seen as a pest, he donated a clock to the small village school. Why? Was it because he was generous indeed or because he wanted to show how poor the village was? He wanted a change, but did he really make a change by donating the clock?
Comparison is used in the text to show how one thing is similar to other. The writer compared the wrought glasshouse as delicate and weblike as the glasshouse in Kew Gardens. The writer also used repetition to emphasize the importance of the things he is describing like: the same grey granite (which it refers to the...
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