Five Quotes

Jean: Life is a struggle, it's cowardly not to put up a fight! (p. 20)

• This quote is extremely interesting because it probably shows Ionesco's life approach. It is even more interesting when we realize that it is said by a man who finally goes through the metamorphosis as one of the first ones. Thus we can say that he does not put up any fight at all. By choosing this sentence, Ionesco probably wanted to show that words we say don't often correspond to the state of mind of ours.    

Berenger: Sometimes one does harm without meaning to, or rather one allows it to go unchecked. (p.97)

• As I said before, Ionesco used the play as an allegory for the uprising of fascism in Romania during the 1930s. For sure, he must have been shocked by the behavior of his friends who joined the fascist movement. Moreover, from what I've read, he must have also felt guilty for not doing anything about it. Thus, we may say that this quote reveals his feelings about the cowardly behavior of people who see that something wrong is happening, but do not do anything to change it. 

Daisy: After all, perhaps is we who need saving. Perhaps we are the abnormal ones. (p. 103)

• Daisy says this sentence at the end of the play when she and Berenger are the only human beings left among the rhinos. It is an interesting turnaround in the situation: at first she is against the rhinos and wants to stay normal; after saying this sentence it seems that she starts to doubt her normality and incline to the side of the <previously> abnormal ones. 

Berenger: What is my language? Am I talking French? I can call it French if I want – and nobody can say it isn’t, I am the only one who speaks it.(p. 107)

• Here we can see how brittle the human definitions of things are. We have all agreed that the language Berenger speaks is French, but it is only a name. Ionesco wanted to show that the names we give to things loose their meaning if we cannot use them in a meaningful conversation. 

(by the way, the language is English, as you might have noticed, but it wasn't changed in the book so I must leave it as it is). 

Logician: If you take six paws from the two cats, how many paws are left to each cat? 

Old Gentleman: We could have one cat with 6 paws <and> one cat with no paws at all.

Logician: In that case, one cat would be especially privileged.

Old Gentleman: And one under-privileged cat deprived of all paws. (p. 21-23)

• I chose this quote to show the absurdity of communication between people, which is nicely visible in the whole play. I was trying to find something more grotesque and absurd, but it is actually impossible to present the absurdity in just few sentences. These conversations usually take about 3 pages in the book and I cannot copy the whole thing here. Anyway, here we can see that the Logician, who is supposed to be rational and reasonable, spends his time talking about nonsense. 

Reference: Ionesco, Eugene. Rhinoceros by Ionesco. New York: Evergreen Original, 1960. 141. Print.