Vegetational Fatherhood

I thought this story was very bizarre but also very interesting. I liked the introduction and Myona’s passage about how nature and humans are connected. I believe this ties into the whole Romantic literary fairy tale we’ve been talking about. In this story, nature isn’t this scientific element but rather some sort of higher, spiritual being that has the ability to act like humans and have emotions as the rose “yearns” for the young woman in the story. But then I was very surprised at the actions of the rose. In putting the woman under a sort of spell it appears as if the rose is drugging her and raping her. This would suggest a more evil side to nature and that it essentially has some greater hold over humans and can have their way with them as the rose does with the woman.

As I continued reading the story, I thought it was very creepy and could almost imagine it being made into a horror movie. The woman is shocked to find herself pregnant and gives birth to a beautiful, silent child. The child does not say a word but is smart and artistic and paints. I thought it was really creepy when she paints the picture of the rose and writes “father,” I could picture this scene straight out of a horror film, not to mention the girl is silent, and weird, quiet kids are often key elements in scary movies.

The rest of the story was interesting in how she gets married and eventually killed. I thought it was very funny how the husband she chooses is named Dr. Rosenberger and is an anatomist. But then the ending is very sad with the girl getting flung off the balcony and how both the mother and Dr. Rosenberger were sent to an asylum. This very dark ending seemed to be saying that the mixture of nature and humans in a sexual way is not a good thing. The girls attempt to connect with her father, the rose, ultimately leads to her death.