Roses and Thorns: Overview and Themes

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Roses and Thorns
Shelly’s book “Roses and Thorns” has been nominated for the Novelists Awards of the century for ten times and voted the best-selling book. From the plot, great illustrations, word play and thematic vehicles, Shelly’s book has been, as described by famous historians Mark Hugh, the epitome of fictional twist of tales, complexity and controversy. Born in 1980 in Texas, the writer discovered his passion in literature and art at the age of twelve when he joined the theatre club in his school. He began to write short scripts, draw prop arts and astonished his teachers with his amazing imagination. His first book was published in the year 1996, ‘The Meat Pie Parade’ which was also among the best works of the year. He wrote “Roses and Thorns” in 2007 as a wedding gift to his new bride.
Overview of the Novel
The book has been criticized for having the biggest ethical dilemma and moral conflict. In the words of Luke Mendez, the ending of the story could as well have been the beginning of another. The book is set in a historic context when merchants, knights, kings, dukes and princesses ruled the land. We see Lucy, the wife of a merchant, a beautiful, energetic woman who was married off in a traditional set-up marriage. His father, the Duke of Colchester was one of the richest men in the land, with hundreds of servants, horses and large apple farms. Among the workers in the farm was Paul, young, energetic and handsome who took care of the fruits and horses. Lucy’s husband, Amos was a well-known gold trader who besides his money, there was nothing else to love about him.
The story is about forbidden love between Paul and Lucy, where because of the doctrines of the land they could never be together. Paul being poor opted to steal from the rich and sell the proceeds to feed his sister since they were orphaned at a young age. Paul meets Lucy at her father’s farm when she went horse riding and they create a spark from the first glance that would change their lives and those of the people around them forever. As Lucy was already betrothed to marry Amos, they could never meet or pursue their love affair. The plot twists as Paul is arrested and sentenced to death by the gallows and his sister has to try save him. Shelly uses various themes such as, love, betrayal, death, suffering and survival, crime, politics, power and authority, social classes and gender, change and dynamics to carry his message across. He also uses visual art images to symbolize critical societal elements and word play to convey large messages in small words.
The Theme of Love
Love is the main theme in Shelly’s book. Essentially he portrays many different kinds of love and the extents to which individuals would go to protect the people and things that they love. For a romantic novel Shelly clearly outdid himself in showing the strength and power of love. Moreover, there are classifications of love and each level is different from the other in term of the sacrifice it requires, legalities, relationship between the people in subject and love for animate and inanimate objects. Throughout the book, the theme prevails in many instances and in eac...