ROSE:
The search for the meaning of the rose is intrinsic to the meaning of the book. The rose embodies the brotherhood of man, so a quest to discover its manifold aspects and associations is equally a voyage of understanding what unites, rather than divides us. The rose, with its variety of cultural and spiritual connections, offers a premise of hope, recognition that such a commonality between human beings does exist. Even when a faded rose no longer contains all its scent, it is yet chemically incapable of producing any unpleasant odour whatsoever. The rose encapsulates binary opposites that are quintessentially human: male and female, life and death, purity and desire, spirituality and sexuality, innocence and a knowledge of secrets. Though it is the flower...