It's happening now!

We don't know the time period Rhinoceros is set in, but that is not essential for the understanding of the play. Generally accepted opinion is that Ionesco wrote this play as an allegory to the rise of fascism in Romania. It is quite possible that he got the inspiration from his home country, and that the masses of rhinoceroses represent the masses of people who joined the Romanian movement Iron Guard during the 1930s. However, I believe that it can be understood in a broader context and applied to our world as well. It happened many times in the history - one ideology (or even a simple idea) became powerful and attracted thousands of people. No matter how irrational the idea was, it had soon many followers. In extreme cases, the followers started to suppress other people (like the communists in Czechoslovakia). And then it is simple - you're either with us or against us. There is no middle way. In these cases, most of the people give up and join the movement, because it is much easier than to fight against the movement with the minority.

And let's make it even simpler - it's not concerning just the massive ideologies. It' happening all around us, in our society. Once there is a general trend, the majority of people starts to follow. Of course, there are more 'outcasts' who don't go with the crowd than in the case of political movements, because these 'outcasts' don't have to be worried and afraid of capital punishment, prison, or some ingenious methods of torture. If you don't follow, you are only considered 'out'. Anyway, even this punishment - the exclusion from the society - is usually strong enough to make you act as the rest of the peers act. Just to give an example -- when I was in grade 2 or 3, there was a huge trend among all girls. They started to use the elastic ribbon to jump over it,with it, under it and through it in various ways. The whole series of jumps were invented and numbered from 1 to 15 according to their difficulty. The girls were jumping during the breaks and in the afternoons and at homes and outside -- and I was jumping, too. I succumbed to this general trend and joined the masses of 8-year old girls. I, too, became rhinoceros.

You see? Rhinoceros is not a strange nonsensical play. The described events are quite realistic. It was always happening and it always will. It's happening now!

If you were bored, watch this. It is the play performed by the The Baltimore Annex Theater and watching it is much more entertaining than reading the book.