Assignment 10

The Vegetational Fatherhood was an especially unusual tale, however, I believe it does fit within the Kunstmarchen category. The themes are more complex than the tales we read earlier in the semester. Specifically the relationship between humans and nature is something the reader is forced to consider. The ending was also particularly interesting and definitely not for a child audience. The bride is killed and her husband and mother are sent to an asylum, as their connection with her death is questionable. Like a Kunstmarchen, we have an unhappy conclusion and end with uncertain relationships. The only connection with the literary fairy tale that I cannot make with The Vegetational Fatherhood is the social critique element. Perhaps I find the tale too strange to read any social commentary into it, but I don't see how a woman turning into a rose could have anything to do with contemporary issues. I find the tale to be more concerned with abstract concepts, such as nature, rather than concrete criticisms.

The Vegetational Fatherhood

The Vegetational Fatherhood opens with an interesting scenario where a plant and a women cross breed. It was a rose that seems to have shared some type of intimacy together and now were able to produce a daughter through this rose, woman love affair of sorts. The author expects the reader to create their own visual of sorts when it comes to this scene. The roses are longer roses yet they become a handsome young man embracing the woman. However her lap is covered with rose petals during this interaction. She is also then thought to be ill which a doctor then asks her if she has been in the midst of a love affair and she admits to doing so. This is just hard to wrap around one's head to what exactly happened between that rose and the woman. The tale is fairy tale like because we are not supposed to truly question what exactly happen and how did that interaction form a child. This story is basically just trying to reveal the different ways people can view love, sex and intimacy. I sort of pictured that scene in American Beauty when the rose petals are draped over the young lady's body. Except here they pro-created. Its mystical which keeps it part of that Fairy tale arena.

Prompt 10: The Vegetational Fatherhood

While reading The Vegetational Fatherhood, I thought the whole story was ridiculous. Now, I am able to really play with the ideas presented and can kind of see where the author is coming from. In the introduction, it is clearly stated that plants have a direct effect on humans and animals. The first section supports this claim by telling the story about a young woman who is essentially raped by a rose. The author uses language that conveys the greatness of the impact the rose has on the girl. For example, the woman tries to find the rose "involuntarily" after waking up with a weird feeling. This shows how the woman was not planning for this to happen and seems almost like a puppet in the plant's life. The daughter that is born due to this event is described as "wondrous." She doesn't talk, she is pretty, and is quite an artist...I'm thinking a typical fairy tale Beauty. Later, however, we find out that the seemingly perfect child transforms into a rosebush when praying. The mom and daughter keep this a secret and seem to be ashamed of her appearance as a shrub. When the fiance finds the rosebush and not his Beauty, he carelessly throws it to the maid and asks her to put it on display as something nice to look at during breakfast. This represents how the average human treats flowers. We pick them and never consider that they might have feelings, or a life. Personally, I understand where Mynona get this idea, but I do not think that this has to change. People enjoy looking at flowers and if we didn't pick them, they'd be overwhelming in mass! Finally, in the end of the story, the mother and fiance ("murderer") are treated as crazy people for seeing a rosebush in what others thought was obviously a human. I think this presents the typical reaction recieved when someone tries to convince another that plants have feelings just like us. I have to say, although I enjoyed reading the story through a few times, I can understand the argument, but I can't imagine actually treating plants like I treat my best friends. Overall, the author tries to convince the audience that plants and animals are very connected, my question then is why is there no apparent punishment for picking flowers?

Assignment 10 - 7. April 2009

Hi Erica, Keith, Mallory and Anna,


For this week, read the tale The Vegetational Fatherhood and try to interpret this tale.

You could talk about the idea behind the story, the characters, the fact that it does/does not fit into the catagory ,,Kunstmärchen", the message it wants to convey/fails to, or about anything other thing that catches your attention...there are no specific expectations...you can work with this tale any way you want.

Looking forward to your posts!

Ann