The Vegetational Fatherhood: A Cautionary Tale Warning Humanity to Respect Nature

What I find most interesting about The Vegetational Fatherhood is that the story begins with a young woman being what can only be described as raped by a rose. This seems to represent a role reversal in the relationship between humanity and nature. Human's have long exploited (or raped) nature, greedily using up its resources without care or concern for how nature will be affected. In The Vegetational Fatherhood the rose uses the young woman's womb to link humanity and nature together by creating a hybrid being. This exploitation of the young woman to serve the will of nature is no different that humanity's exploitation of nature to serve its one purposes. It is simply the norm we are used to being turned on its head.

The hybrid being, a beautiful young girl, symbolizes the way in which nature is exploited by humanity. Nature usually regarded as mysterious, graceful, and, most importantly, feminine. Humanity and cultural advancement are usually regarded as powerful, factual, and, most importantly, masculine. The young girl is mute, unable to assert a voice in order to protect herself just as is nature. Dr. Rosenberger is a scientist who intends to bend his young bride to his will. He assumes she is pious but instead of respecting who she is he plans to "break her of this habit." Dr. Rosenberger clearly represents humanity and its demands while his young wife represents the innocence and vulnerability of nature.

Because Dr. Rosenberger is careless and disrespectful of his young wife's wishes he ultimately destroys her. He does so inadvertently, yet this could have been prevented had he respected her. His wife's death results in the destruction of Dr. Rosenberger's own life as well. This can be seen to comment on humanity's disrespect for nature. If humanity continues to drain the world of it natural resources and disrespect nature's right to flourish, nature will eventually be destroyed. And because humanity cannot exist without the support of nature, if humanity destroys nature it is effectively destroying itself.

The narrative voice

What I find interesting about "The Vegetational Fatherhood" is the dichotomy between Realism and Fantasy, as worlds or even as personal beliefs. The story certainly takes place in a world where magic is NOT expected or normal, as opposed to what is generally the case in fairytales. The mother is not only horrified by her daughter's transformation into a rosebush before bed, but absolutely confused. The condemnation of the mother and doctor to an asylum is the ultimate in realism: not only does this world discount magic as an alibi, but the verdict (or treatment) is so very clinical.

The storyteller, however, knows better. He tells the story as if these poor people simply do not know about magic, that they sadly do not understand that the world is of COURSE full of magic, and implies that the reader ought to know their flaw as well. The tone is coy and knowing, and as a reader, just thinking about any aspect of the story as though the world WERE NOT magical is to feel very stupid indeed. This makes the tale very potently, albeit uniquely, a fairytale.

Social Critique in "The Vegetational Fatherhood"

Mynona (aka Salomo Friedlaender) wrote in early 20th century Germany during the Dadaist and Expressionist movements. I think "The Vegetational Fatherhood" can be read as containing certain social critiques consistent with these two movements. A certain kind of ironic tone seems to come through the narrator's voice in the story, which could be Friedlaender's method of adding social critique to this tale. For example, at the end the narrator notes, "Dr. Rosenberger is an anatomist. Could he have been so cruel as to have conducted bestial experiments on her before he threw her from the balcony? Will the truth ever be known?" (587). This commentary seems to point out the absurdity of explaining the abnormalities in the daughter's body by blaming Dr. Rosenberger. However, another explanation, that she really was part-rosebush, seems just as absurd. By using a fairy tale form, Friedlaender can use characters whose features cannot be explained away by science and by using such examples, he can highlight the subjective side of life that cannot always to be easily explained.

Generally speaking, both Dadaism and Expressionism were a response to rule of Kaiser Wilhem II.. Many authors at this time focused not only on the subjective, but also on the importance of thinking for one's self. A major problem many intellectuals saw during the Kaiserzeit was the inability of subjects to think for themselves and instead blindly followed whatever the Kaiser prescribed. I think "The Vegetational Fatherhood" can be interpreted as having a similar goal in creating a fairy tale that makes the reader question the relationship between nature and the human world. The tale challenges the reader to see nature in a different light than most people do in order to stimulate the reader's imagination. Additionally, the end of the tale seems to challenge the reader to question the explanation society offers for the incident between Dr. Rosenberger and his wife. Friedlaender seems to be urging people to think critically for themselves while also recognizing that the answer might not always be clear-cut.

The Vegetational fatherhood represents the ultimate communal with nature, where nature and man are able to become one and reproduce. The romantic movement was very influenced by the beauty and mystery of nature, so it seems natural that a writer would go as far as to want the two entities to breed. It seems that the combination of the roses and the woman has created an even better creature. Unfortunately her demise can show the opposition to the romantic movement. Her husband, a doctor and therefore a man of science throws his bride out the window because she looks like a rose bush. Perhaps the author wanted us to begin thinking about nature as human, that the life of a rosebush has the same value as a human life. When the girl looks like a rose bush the doctor throws her out the window without care, because to him she looks like a worthless plant. In fact it is his lovely bride, and by getting ride of the plant, he kills his wife. 

The mother's dream in which the rose bush actually transforms into a man gives the reader the idea that nature and plants have the ability to take on human form. By transforming into man, nature shows us the readers that we two are not that different, that we have the same needs and desires, as well as emotions. The child is devoted to her father, and therefore turns into a rosebush every night. She is the perfect child because she is half way between nature and humanity. She is able to experience both worlds and live in a true Romantic state, able to reach the sublime.

Nature and Humanity - a Dangerous Combination

One of the main things that struck me about The Vegetational Fatherhood, was how Mynona comments on the relationship between nature and humanity. Nature is not just a silent entity that provides for humans, but has some sort of enticing or hypnotizing power over humans. The introduction showcases the example of plants with power over humans, the "man-eating plants" (583). This tinges the tale already towards a more evil, threatening characteristic of the the relationship between plants and humans/animals. Then, the young woman who is held entranced and almost drugged, is basically raped by the rose, and so this sinister nature is fully established. With the eventual death of the daughter of this slightly horrific coupling, the warning is full-fledged by the end of the tale.

I believe Mynona uses this aspect of the tale as a warning to the power of vegetation over the lives of humans, as well as to say that the intertwining of plants and humans is doomed - unnatural - destructive. Also, most evident of all the messages, that humans should respect and be wary of the power of nature.

Assignment 10 - 7. April 2009

Hi Brian, Amy-Lee, Caitlin, Lydia and Briana,

For this week, read the tale The Vegetational Fatherhood and try to interpret this tale.

You could talk about the idea behind the story, the characters, the fact that it does/does not fit into the catagory ,,Kunstmärchen", the message it wants to convey/fails to, or about anything other thing that catches your attention...there are no specific expectations...you can work with this tale any way you want.

Looking forward to your posts!

Ann