Response to Rose Mellie Rose

"He thinks he knows me because we were together on the bunk in his truck.  I have nothing else to say to him.  Our walk along the beach ended there.  The walk was ruined.  My whole afternoon is ruined." p. 65

I like this quote because it can be true of relationships; the intimacy of sex can indeed get you closer to someone, as it did for the truck driver.  However, it does not mean that you know them, who they truly are.  That also does not mean that you have the right to control them. 

After having sex with the truck driver for a second time, Mellie is angered that he is upset that she will not come with him to the continent, but wants to stay in Oat where her life is.  He says that he thought he knew her.  She seemed as if she would travel far, but it seemed as if she were stuck in Oat all her life now, dwindling it away for nothing too important.

This angers Mellie, as it would anger me.  Lover or not, the truck driver has no right to treat Mellie as such, considering that in reality, they really are not that close.  He does not know here from Eve, really; the only reason that he is asking her to come with him is out of loneliness or attachment.  And even when he's mad at her for refusing, he still gives her his address in hopes that she will change her mind and come to live with him on the continent. 

Rose Mellie Rose

"Mellie wanted to spend her last days lying on her bed in front of the bay window overlooking the ocean"

I found the book's treatment of water interesting, especially with regard to death. Nem dies underwater, the elderly Mellie makes a point of seeing the ocean from her deathbed, and one of Mellie's last sights is of the ocean. I'm not sure if water is just a symbol for change, as flooding influences where the characters choose to live or the ocean acts as a threshold for change between the island and the continent. There is definitely significance to Mellie living on an island. It has an oddness to it—that change surrounds her constantly, through the change and turbulence of the ocean, yet that very barrier of change holds the island in a state of sameness. It separates Oat from that which would change it. In its relation to death, perhaps the water holds an air of possibilities denied or out of reach for life. Water is what the dying could have done—ways they could have changed—that they regret.

post from Mideya

Rose Mellie Rose-- Marie Redonnet

As I read the last half of Rose Mellie Rose and everything started to come together, there was one quote that particulary struck me. It is when Mellie say, "Sometimes I dont kno who Mellie is. Mellie is me. I must not forget that. Fortunately I have my identity card with my photo glued to it." It is almost as if because Mellie has spent so much time in this deserted town and she has so many people she feels she must look after, she forgets who she is. She thinks that the card with her name and her photo on it is all she needs to remember who she is. She feels tha without it, she will lose herself but i think in a way she already has. She keeps losing pieces of herself when those around her keep leaving her.

Rose Mellie Rose Part 2

(I hope I didn't post this too late.)

"The veil grows thicker over my eyes."

Mellie has always had a veil over her eyes. She thought she was in control of her life, but all of her choices have been influenced by others in some way. Though she defies the truck driver, she still keeps her promise to not go to the Dance Palace. She gets engaged and married because it was Yem's idea. Even her decision to have her baby in the grotto was a mimicing of her own birth as Rose told her. In this way, I don't see Mellie as a very independent character. She's had to become an adult very quickly with her circumstances in Oat, but never quite grasped the concept of making decisions for herself. When she dies, the veil of cloudy judgment descends over her eyes, representing how irresponsible she's been.

cass ford & rose mellie rose part ii

"I did not put the sign from the Hermitage up in my new lodgings. You must not mix old and new." -- page 74

There seems to be a lot of differentiating between old and new in this book. The "new" of the continent vs. the old of Oât, old and new alphabets, etc. But things that are supposed to be clearly delineated as old or new often run together, like all the Mellies and Roses.

I don't have much more to say about the text. I liked the second half less, but I don't know exactly why. I don't think there was anything new introduced, like concepts or ideas, or even any major points being made. The ending was not surprising, in fact, it was predictable the minute she started talking about going to the grotto to have the baby. There was also no character change in Mellie by the end of the novel. This is disappointing, but when I think about it, I don't see much of a developed character that could change.

Then I read the explanation on the triptych of stories, and I think it's just reaching, even as a metaphor. Even as a story. I was constantly returning to reality to question how things were happening, like, how does Mellie pay for things? Where does she get food from? Why is a secondhand man being a mayor? Are there seriously only ten people on this island? It just wasn't believable, and not in a good way.

Rose Mellie Rose Part II

"This is the first time I have been pregnant. It is much more important than the first time I had my period."

This post reminded me of the beginning of the book when she first got her period when she was 12. At first this quote seemed dumb to me and extremely obvious, but then I remembered how she had to deal with a death when this happened. It was a hard time for her, she had to leave behind everything she knew. However, even with that said, I am wondering if that was the point of this quote. Maybe it has a deeper meaning as I suspect, but as I re-read the passage I'm wondering if she is just too young to understand the meaning of pregnancy.

Rose Mellie Rose - Tom

"Mellie is me. I must not forget that."

The entire book is extremely eerie. Everything about Rose Mellie Rose has a sort of double edge to it. Except for the fact that the island is dying and so is everyone on it. Like Mellie was found, her daughter Rose will be found as well. But like everyone on the island who has died, Mellie will die alone and pitifully. She had many opportunities to go to the continent and she did not take them. And she could have avoided her death altogether by going to the clinic for her delivery. But it seems she suffers from being a stubborn headed teenager. Not leaving the island and going to the grotto were her ultimate downfalls. But to me, she seems to be an impartial observer who in the end becomes sucked into the story of the island that ends in its death.