Roses and Thorns: Overview and Themes

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Roses and Thorns
Shelly’s book “Roses and Thorns” has been nominated for the Novelists Awards of the century for ten times and voted the best-selling book. From the plot, great illustrations, word play and thematic vehicles, Shelly’s book has been, as described by famous historians Mark Hugh, the epitome of fictional twist of tales, complexity and controversy. Born in 1980 in Texas, the writer discovered his passion in literature and art at the age of twelve when he joined the theatre club in his school. He began to write short scripts, draw prop arts and astonished his teachers with his amazing imagination. His first book was published in the year 1996, ‘The Meat Pie Parade’ which was also among the best works of the year. He wrote “Roses and Thorns” in 2007 as a wedding gift to his new bride.
Overview of the Novel
The book has been criticized for having the biggest ethical dilemma and moral conflict. In the words of Luke Mendez, the ending of the story could as well have been the beginning of another. The book is set in a historic context when merchants, knights, kings, dukes and princesses ruled the land. We see Lucy, the wife of a merchant, a beautiful, energetic woman who was married off in a traditional set-up marriage. His father, the Duke of Colchester was one of the richest men in the land, with hundreds of servants, horses and large apple farms. Among the workers in the farm was Paul, young, energetic and handsome who took care of the fruits and horses. Lucy’s husband, Amos was a well-known gold trader who besides his money, there was nothing else to love about him.
The story is about forbidden love between Paul and Lucy, where because of the doctrines of the land they could never be together. Paul being poor opted to steal from the rich and sell the proceeds to feed his sister since they were orphaned at a young age. Paul meets Lucy at her father’s farm when she went horse riding and they create a spark from the first glance that would change their lives and those of the people around them forever. As Lucy was already betrothed to marry Amos, they could never meet or pursue their love affair. The plot twists as Paul is arrested and sentenced to death by the gallows and his sister has to try save him. Shelly uses various themes such as, love, betrayal, death, suffering and survival, crime, politics, power and authority, social classes and gender, change and dynamics to carry his message across. He also uses visual art images to symbolize critical societal elements and word play to convey large messages in small words.
The Theme of Love
Love is the main theme in Shelly’s book. Essentially he portrays many different kinds of love and the extents to which individuals would go to protect the people and things that they love. For a romantic novel Shelly clearly outdid himself in showing the strength and power of love. Moreover, there are classifications of love and each level is different from the other in term of the sacrifice it requires, legalities, relationship between the people in subject and love for animate and inanimate objects. Throughout the book, the theme prevails in many instances and in each case a different factor emerges. In the poem “Loves Philosophy”, Shelly says, “All things by a law divine, in one another’s being mingle- why not I with thine?” (Shelly, lines 6, 7 and 8).
First, there is the romantic love between Lucy and Paul which are the main characters of the story. From the moment they met, there was a connection between them, a feeling of a passion that each wanted to explore. The mixture of infatuation, pure lust and the thirst intimacy moved across their bodies. We see Lucy pretending to fall from the horse’s back knowing that Paul would run and hold her. She longed for his touch and thought of him while gazing at the stars.
Apart from Paul and Lucy, the theme of love is further shown through family relationships and blood ties. Even the cruelest people in the fictional world have a soft spot for family and love. The case is not different in Shelly’s book as we see the love that existed between Paul and his sister where Paul did everything in his power to make sure she was safe and had everything she needed despite the fact that they were poor and lived in a small space in one of the stables. According to Shelly, Paul defended his sister from the town boys who were trying to snatch her crumb of bread and she returned his favor by doing a greater act of love when she went to rescue him from the gallows. The book focuses on unconditional love and clearly, the two siblings are a perfect example. The duke also loved her daughter but in his case, his ways of showing that love were to the expense of her happiness, “All love is sweet given or received” (Shelly)
Theme of Death
Death in a romantic story could come out as cliché but it is clearly one of the best ways to show the extent to which people can go to get what they want. In many books from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, to others over the ages, death is seen as the furthest or highest point that one could reach to show love. The rest symbolizes final freedom from the oppressions of the cruel world. Nonetheless, people and animals are killed or die for different reasons all which aim to show the fragility and preciousness of life. In Shelly’s book, the theme of death and its effects is witnessed in the following instances. “No more let life divide what death can put together.” (Shelly)
First, death brings about suffering and remorse for those who are left behind especially if they were dependent on the deceased. Paul and his sister used to take a flower every week to their parents grave. His sister in particular had never come to facts that she would never see them again and Paul was all she had. Evidently, the two depended on their parents for sustenance and with their deaths, they had to make due on their own. Death made Paul stand up and work his way to try filling the gap and being the pillar of strength that his sister clearly needed. For Peter, the death of her parents made him the man he grew to be.
Secondly, despite the bravery that people possess, they all tremble before death. In the final chapter of the book, the Jail Bully as he is referred to by Shelly, pisses himself as he is led to the gallows and even starts to cry at the thought of never seeing the light again. Paul sister trembles at the thought of losing her brother and only family and climbs out of her fear and meekness to fight for her brother. She remembers how bad it felt to lose her parents and she could not stand and watch her brother get killed.
Politics, Power and Authority
Imagery and language in the books are effectively used to carry the theme of authority, power and politics. The writer uses strong words to describe the doctrines written down by the kind and leaders of the land. For instance Shelly writes ’The King is your god.” This clearly shows the power with which the leaders were bestowed with in the land. They had authority to decide whether one lives or dies because they considered themselves gods. Shelly criticizes the authority and use of power in the book by describing the leaders as pigs who eat everything even from the mud which in this case symbolizes the poor. Clearly his political stance is rather a democratic one where he believes people need to be heard by their leaders and treated equally.
Clearly, those in power were very abusive of their authority and used their power to acquire wealth and oppress the poor. The people had no right to oppose the king’s decision and his k...