Rose Madder Reflection

Rose Madder is a novel written by Stephen King. It is a fantasy novel that deals with domestic abuse, escape, and progression of the main character. My favourite part of the book revolved around Rosie’s, the main protagonist, character development . I enjoyed watching Rosie’s evolution from a timid mouse to a warrior, metaphorically speaking. Rosie began her journey within the novel inside of her cozy home with her not so cozy husband, Norman. With Norman she had no voice, she was forced to endure whatever beatings he chose to give. As the plot progressed, I saw Rosie find pieces of herself she had lost throughout her marriage and learn information that became crucial in order for her to move on from the past. Rose was a well thought out character

Dreaming and waking are mentioned multiple times within the book, but the elaborations are what I find interesting. There is a fine line between dreaming and being awake, and only some people can ride the line in between experiencing the dreamworld as if they were awake. Rosie Mclendon, also known as Rose Daniels, is prone to both bad dreams and bad awakenings. There have been moments in her marriage where fear will cause her to awaken in screams and sweat, but she must suppress the screams in fear of waking Norman up. To me Stephen King perfectly summed up the concept of dreaming in two sentences, “The concept of dreaming is known to the waking mind but to the dreamer there is no waking, no real world, no sanity; there is only the screaming bedlam of sleep” (9). When I am in a nightmare it feels like there is no reality and to read about Rosie’s living nightmare is both frightening and exciting at the same

Rosie sings it to herself as reassurance and a means of finding courage. Although I do not like the song itself, I believe the lyrics resonate nicely with Rose’s story. Throughout the entire book when she felt as if she wasn’t important she repeated “I’m a great big deal”. Rosie also sang her song while she watched the pomegranate tree grow. At the very end of the book the author writes, “She isn’t a big deal, of course, except to the people who matter in her life, but since these are the only ones she cares about, that’s fine” (420). I believe that a lot can be learnt from this quote. For starters not everyone is a big deal to the world, but as long as you matter to those you care about, life will be