Rose I Love You Character Analysis

Introduction Wang Chen-Ho’s novel Rose, Rose, I Love You has received both critical acclaim and disapproval for its experimental language, sarcasm, and unabashed theme. Indeed, one of the novel’s most conspicuous features is its language that may appear shocking to some because of its blatant sexual implication and frequent cursing words; Wang’s wife is among those who cannot even finish the book. Some critics found no value in this experimental yet apparently vulgar language such as Long Ying-Tai, who criticizes the novel has nothing more than Wang’s showing off his skills in language. However, this kind of critique remains the minority. Most of the critics hold positive attitudes toward Wang’s brave attempt in creating a new language

For example, Yao Yi-Wei discusses how Wang exaggerates the physical features of the characters such as Big-Nose Lion and Dong Siwen to achieve a comic effect. Notwithstanding the importance of Wang’s achievement in humor and comedy writing in modern Chinese literature, another significant yet often overlooked feature of Rose requires more attention as well, i.e. its themes. As Qiu Gui-Fen points out, an overemphasis on Rose as a comedy and its language creativity for humorous effects suffers an oversight of simplifying the ideological and political implication in the novel for Taiwan society. This paper therefore does not address the literary value of Wang’s language use or his mastering comics and humor themselves, but it inquire into the political implication through a discussion that comprehensively combines Wang’s language, humor, and themes in Rose. It argues that Wang uses Rose as a parody of the post-war socio-political environment of Taiwan. He deconstructs the predominant discourses of the American imperialism and Chinese nationalism of the Chiang Kai-shek government through the protagonist, Dong Siwen, by creating languages of “heteroglossia” that subverts English as the cultural capital and using laughter to disrupt the