The Glass Roses
Alden Nowlan
Alden Nowlan
• In 1933, Alden Nowlan was born into rural
poverty in Stanley, Nova Scotia, adjacent
to Mosherville, and close to the small
town of Windsor, Nova Scotia, along a
stretch of dirt road that he would later
refer to as Desolation Creek. His father,
Gordon Freeman Nowlan, worked
sporadically as a manual labourer.
• His mother, Grace Reese, was only 15
years of age when Nowlan was born, and
she soon left the family, leaving Alden and
her younger daughter Harriet to the care
of their paternal grandmother.
• The family believed that education as a
waste of time, and Nowlan left school
after only four grades. At the age of 14, he
went to work in the village sawmill.
Alden Nowlan
• At the age of 16, Nowlan discovered the regional library. Each weekend he
would walk or hitchhike eighteen miles to the library to get books, and
secretly began to educate himself.
• At the age of 19, Nowlan's started working at Observer, a newspaper in
Hartland, New Brunswick. While working at the Observer, Nowlan began
writing books of poetry.
• Nowlan eventually settled permanently in New Brunswick. In 1963, he
married Claudine Orser, a typesetter on his former paper, and moved to
Saint John with her and her son, John, whom he adopted.
• He became the night editor for the Saint John Telegraph Journal and
continued to write poetry.
• In 1966, Nowlan was diagnosed with throat cancer. His health forced him
to give up his job, but at the same time the University of New Brunswick in
Fredericton offered him the position of Writer-in-Residence.
• He remained in the position until his death on June 27, 1983.
Characters - Stephen
• Stephen associates being a man with the
characteristics that his father has modeled.
• He doesn’t want to be like his father, but he
wants to be recognized as a man.
• Realizes that his father has been affected by
the war, but Leka has as well, and yet, they
both have differing end results.
Characters - Leka
• Nowlan describes him as a Ukrainian second world war
refugee, who has come to New Brunswick to work in the
pulp woods.
• He is paired with a boy, who is the son of the foreman.
• The woodsmen think he is from Poland and call him a
Polack.
• He is a man whose heart is constantly warmed by the
memory of the culture he once beheld — cathedrals,
castles, cavalrymen — and whose dreams are racked by the
spectre of its destruction.
• He constantly faces fear:
– When Leka is awake, he is persecuted due to his differences.
– His nightmares remind him of what he endured during the war.
They remind him that he wanted to die; that he had given up.
Stephen’s Father vs. Leka
Father
• Hard/rough
• Hard worker/strong
• Demanding
• Unemotional
• Judgmental/Afraid of different
people
• Lacks compassion
Leka
• Physically weaker
• Finesse/fragile
• Friendly
• Emotional/sentimental
• Open-minded
• Respect for nature
• Man of religion
• Kind and compassionate
Symbols
• Glass Roses:
– They are valuable, yet fragile and
beautiful.
– They represent all that is innocent
and wonderful, but can easily be
broken by others.
• The Axe:
– Represents the strength and respect.
– It is what holds Leka and Stephen
back from being recognized as men.
• The Cathedral:
– They represent a world he once
knew and valued.
– They provide Leka and Stephen with
a point of discussion that most men
would not share with each other.
Themes
• Search for Identity: Stephen is oscillating
between what kind of man he wants to become.
• Illusion vs. Reality: This could be explored on a
few levels:
– How the men view their relationship vs. how Stephen
and Leka view their connection.
– What most people believe to be masculine
characteristics and what really makes a strong man.
• Individuality vs. Conformity: For Stephen to be
accepted by his father and the other men, or for
him to stand on his own and make the choices.