Essay Writing Summative Assessment - The Glass Roses

Essay Writing Summative Assessment “The plague of mankind is the fear and rejection of diversity: monotheism, monarchy, monogamy and, in our age, monomedicine. The belief that there is only one right way to live, only one right way to regulate religious, political, sexual, and medical affairs is the root cause of the greatest threat to man: members of his own species, bent on ensuring his salvation, security, and sanity” ― Thomas Stephen Szasz. To differ from society’s accepted views would be to differ from society’s accepted individuals – this would mean becoming a pariah. The short story “The Glass Roses”, by Alden Nowlan, truly exemplifies this fear of difference through its protagonist, Stephen. Growing up, he gains an understanding that to be accepted into his world, he would have to become an emotionless, cold, and rigid man like his father and the men he works with. However, when a foreigner named Leka joins the pulp-cutting crew, Stephen is torn between his cold, masculine father’s expectations and the desire to learn, dream, and love through a friendship with Leka. Stephen struggles to find a balance for he cannot hope to achieve both acceptance and personal desire; ultimately, he must choose one or the other. Nowlan develops the idea that an individual, when faced with a dilemma, may be driven to abandon a piece of their identity in order to achieve solace with another. Although it is not directly stated in the short story, one can gather a large amount of insight into Stephen’s life before Leka came. During this time, he wants so very badly to be like his father; strong, capable, and unyielding; able to take the cold by the horns – able to tame it. For hours, he would “watch [the men] from his upper bunk” (1). He envies them. “The more he observed the easy strength of these men, the oftener he worked himself into aching exhaustion at the end of a pulpsaw, the more certain he was that he could never be a man” (1). Stephen sees himself as a weak,