Scholars have noted that the rhinos turning green can be read as a symbolic representation of the green Nazi uniforms, while the argument over whether the rhinoceroses are Asian or not reflects Nazi propaganda claiming that Jewish people were interlopers from Asia-while the rhinoceroses themselves function as commentary on the idea of an Aryan “master race” that, Ionesco suggests, is violent but powerfully appealing to people unwilling to interrogate what joining in actually means on a moral level.
Ionesco was studying at a university in Romania when the Iron Guard was coming to power, and unlike some fascist movements, the Iron Guard’s main hold was in universities. Rhinoceros was inspired primarily by Ionesco’s experience of World War II and specifically, the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany and the Iron Guard in Romania.
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