Rhinocerous Beetle

Characterization
There is very little characterization in terms of the protagonist or any other character in the short story. This has the effect of keeping the main character mysterious and enigmatic, to the extent that there is a distance formed between the reader and character

Diction

 * Weapon: A harmful tool that causes damage. Used in the context that men use the 'secret weapon' (tails, legs, etc.) against the women close to them - wives, sisters, etc.
 * "The town he lived near": at a short distance away from. Indicates his exaggerated isolation from an already isolated location (a rural town).
 * "Each day a rhinocerous beetle": used when mentioning someone or something for the first time in a text or conversation. Used in representation of women at a young age, disposable, meaning that he does not have a single rhineocerous beetle, but rather he treats them as superfluous.
 * "raiding, pinning, ambush": Words with very negative contexts, chosen to incite ideas of violence and war and associate with the main character.

Setting
Isolation in a rural town, can be interpreted as a representation of the main character or the women in the story.
 * Main character: His isolation from society as a child, infers his difference and peculiarity from other children or characters in the story.
 * Women: Can be interpreted as the isolation the women experienced while being mocked for expressing their fears

Tone
Consistently lacking emotion.

Issues

 * Mental illness
 * Gender issues
 * Isolation
 * Abuse - against women/animals
 * Power
 * Misunderstanding
 * Silencing
 * Power
 * Aggression

Ideas

 * It reveals the importance that role models have in children's lives by highlighting the damaging effects if they are absent
 * Questions the aggression that has been normalised in boys in society
 * Exposes the marginalisation of women within a patriarchal society as their voices are unheard and ignored, especially by the men they care for
 * Depicts how knowledge is valued over intuition
 * Presents the effects isolation has on human development