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The Rhinoceros Ethos

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. In the Rhinoceros, by Eugene Ionesco, Ionesco uses a very surreal terrifying tone and perspective to show the fear in people over the Rhinoceros takeover. He uses this to convey the real terror and fear that people felt during the Nazi take over. The sighting of the first rhinoceros leaves a woman grieving horribly over her dead cat that the rhinoceros trampled and leaves the townspeople completely confused as to how it got there in the first place. The second transformation comes when Madame Boeuf comes to the office and asks her husband to be excused as he is sick, she is very alarmed and they come to realize that in fact she was chased by a rhinoceros and in fact the rhinoceros is in the building trying to get up the stairs to them! This is the same as the fear that people in Germany felt when they realized that Hitler was after them and that their very lives were in danger. …show more content…

This is comparable to the Nazi take over as some families chose to stick together and hide from the Nazi’s while others decided to go along together to the concentration camps rather than be separated and not know what was happening to their loved ones. Then Jean turns into a rhinoceros, he makes statements such as “Humanism is out of date!” He also states that “rhinoceroses are creatures like ourselves, with just as much right to live.” They argue over who’s moral code is more proper theirs or the rhinoceros’s, just like the German’s argued over whether or not Hitler morals were right. Then more fear comes when Boeuf turns complete rhinoceros and chases him clear out the building screaming,” I will trample on you!” He barely escapes with his life. Soon they discover that there are many rhinoceroses and it gets so bad that people in the street just step to the side to get out of their way as they charge through the

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