Glass Roses By Alden Nowlan Essay - 1136 Words

Practice Essay 1 Jan 2011 How can someone pursue a personal desire if they spent their life trying to conform? Alden Nowlan’s short story, â€Å"The Glass Roses† explores this through the protagonist, Stephen. Stephen’s personal desire to feel accepted conflicts with his feeling of having to become like the pulp cutters because he is not mentally or physically ready to fit in with grown men. This results in Chris finding a way to become his own person. Stephen’s journey to pursue his personal desire is shown through setting, character development, and symbolism. The setting that Stephen is in requires him to be well built and mentally prepared, but unfortunately, he is too young to be prepared for his surroundings. Stephen has been in†¦show more content†¦Stephen begins to break his desire to conform and create his personal desire to be free from the pulpcutters ideology. The pulpcutters speak only when they have â€Å"criticisms or commands,† Chris has never had a pulpcutter apologize to him nor has he apologized to anybody because â€Å"men did not tender apologies.† Stephen becomes angry with Leka who later apologizes to him; Stephen ignores him but later apologizes to Leka. Despite not knowing how to apologize saying â€Å"look† at first Stephen gets over his requirement of not tendering to apologies and says sorry to Leka because he feels that he fits in with the tenderness of an apology. Stephen feels a connection between him and Leka because of his kindness and his stories. Stephen â€Å"shamefully† listens to Leka’s â€Å"fairytales† hoping that the other pulpcutters do not find out. He begins to pull away from the masculine ideology he is consumed by and starts to imagine cathedrals and Cracow allowing him to feel like he fits in as they both speak about fantasies Stephen continues his rebellion on the idea of conforming to the pulp cutters by accepting Leka’s advice about how to cut through the tree. At first, Stephen had gotten angry with Leka for telling him to be gentler with the pulp saw because men did not accept another’s advice, but later accepts the advice and is capable of cutting down the tree. Stephen feels like himself around Leka and finds it â€Å"fun† being