Rhinoceros Man vs. The Natural World Quotes

Hey, the play is called rhinoceros, so there better be a rhinoceros sighting. Yup, the waitress’s surprisingly nonchalant, “Oh, a rhinoceros!” How dainty. Anyway, this moment is the first acknowledgment that something from the seemingly natural world has encroached on the human domain.

This statement from Jean is kind of like somebody who talks trash about Lady Gaga and then runs home and fashions a dress out of meat. The next time we see Jean after this scene, he’ll be changing into a rhino and joining up with all the others. Which is kind of another version of a meat dress, when you stop to think about it.

There are places in one of the largest cities in Texas (and other places, we assume) that couldn’t be more city-like. There are skyscrapers and huge corporations and lovely little neighborhoods. Sometimes, though, coyotes walk the streets. It’s a crazy thing to see the natural world push its way into “civilization,” and this is what Botard has witnessed. And he just cannot deal.

Now that Jean has a desire to join the “natural world” with the rhinoceroses, he can no longer bother with human trappings like pajamas. The animal is coming out in him, and he wants nothing to do with humankind.

There are those who love nature and do want to get back to a more natural way of living (the organic food craze is evidence of that), but there is something that Jean fails to mention. There is a violence and power of destruction in the animals he is looking to join that goes beyond what he is capable of as a man. Remember, the rhinoceroses are not simply the natural world reclaiming its place on earth. These are people who have joined others because they want to trample on stuff.

Just everyday living can be stressful. Trying to go it alone out there isn’t easy. Maybe joining up with the herd would just give you a chance to take things down a notch. You wouldn’t have to worry so much. You could just get out there in the open and do what everyone else does. It’s simple, right? Again, remember the bigger picture here. It’s not just about getting in touch with nature, it’s about turning off your brain and becoming part of an unstoppable, unthinking, uncaring mass.

Look out, everybody, Daisy is starting to buy into this whole thing. In like one minute she’s going to be calling them gods and joining up. She sees them as natural and simple at first, and that’s the appeal. It’s not too far off from what Dudard was talking about earlier.

Don’t you love it when a writer sums up one of his major arguments in two lines? This rhinoceros epidemic is not natural. It’s one thing for animals to take back what was theirs to begin with, and it is an entirely different thing for humans to change themselves into animals. Berenger not only sees this as an affront to humankind, but as an affront to the natural world, as well. Tidy sum-up, huh?

If we’re talking everyday rhinoceroses, people might be able to debate this point, but for Berenger there is no question. Man has elevated himself and individualized himself, which makes him superior to the animals in the natural world. The problem for him is that those animals are physically more powerful and superior to him in every way. Better stay locked in the apartment, Berenger!

Again, Daisy is drawn to the naturalness of the whole thing. On the other end of the room, Berenger cannot understand why nobody can see how wrong and unnatural this all is. That is why he is the only human left in the end. He knows, inherently, that something unnatural is taking place. In a way, remaining human puts him less at odds with the natural world than transforming into a rhinoceros would.