Q: What view of the old man is given in this short story? Support your answer with detailed reference to the text!
In this short story by peter Carey , the main character is an old man, who was in charge
of a Nazi concentration camp, where Jews were killed in the second world war. If this
Had been said at the start of the short story, the old man would have immediately been
Vilified by the audience. Instead, from the start, the audience is made to sympathize for
him.
In the short story "The Rose" by Peter Carey, we are shown that the old man appears to
be punishing himself for something which is unknown to the reader. He also appears to
be hiding from something, as shown in the first paragraph, "I have looked for the village
on an atlas and cannot find it". The old man chose a small, unknown village to live in. He
is shown to be punishing himself by the quote "the glasshouse was warmer than his own
mean bedroom", which leaves the impression that he cares more for his plants than
himself.
In this short story, the people in the village don't seem to like the old man at all. This is
first shown in the second paragraph "He spoke Spanish very badly, and often irritated
the clerk". The villagers made no attempt to help him or teach him (that we are told of)
and were just annoyed at him. The clerk even tormented the old man, by playing an "idle
and malicious game". However we are given an impression that the old man feels he
deserves all of this by the way that he "called at the post office consistently", "waiting
patiently' and "never complaining". This gives the reader the impression that the old
man is self pitying, and has done something wrong. The author Peter Carey used words
like " he walked painfully" and he "looked fragile and pitiable" t...