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The Old Gentleman
A grocer whose grocery store is next to the café where Jean and Berenger meet. He’s prickly because the Housewife is buying groceries elsewhere and gets very caught up in the arbitrary argument over whether or not the rhinoceros or rhinoceroses running through town are Asian or African and how many horns they have.
The Grocer Quotes in Rhinoceros
The Rhinoceros quotes below are all either spoken by The Grocer or refer to The Grocer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 1, Scene 1 Quotes
Grocer: —it may be logical, but are we going to stand for our cats being run down under our very eyes by one-horned rhinoceroses or two, whether they’re Asiatic or African?
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Explanation and Analysis:
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The Grocer Character Timeline in Rhinoceros
The timeline below shows where the character The Grocer appears in Rhinoceros. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1, Scene 1
It’s a sunny Sunday afternoon. A Waitress adjusts tables outside a café while the Grocer’s Wife sweeps the steps of the shop next door. A Housewife walks past with a...
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...over as he stands up and points, shouting that it’s a rhinoceros. The Waitress, the Grocer’s Wife, the Grocer, and the Housewife all shout and point out the rhinoceros.
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...the Old Gentleman arrive at the café and bump into each other and then the Grocer. The Proprietor asks what’s going on and at first tells the Waitress that she’s seeing...
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The Housewife admits that she was scared as the Grocer gives the woman her basket. The Old Gentleman asks if he can help pick up...
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As Daisy arrives at the grocery store and begins to speak to the Grocer, Berenger sighs and agrees to not drink. He recognizes Daisy’s laugh and spills his drink...
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...to the café cradling her dead and bloody cat. The rhinoceros ran it over. The Grocer, the Old Gentleman, Daisy, and the Logician comfort the Housewife as the Waitress cleans up.
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The Grocer’s Wife and Jean declare that this is taking things too far. Meanwhile, Daisy notices Berenger,...
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...if Berenger is accusing him of spouting nonsense and Berenger agrees that he is. The Grocer’s Wife offers the Housewife one of her cats, but the Housewife cries harder. Jean spits...
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...continues to sob over her cat and Jean quickly leaves. The Old Gentleman tells the Grocer that Asian people have skin of all colors as Jean returns briefly to call Berenger...
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...gently help the Housewife into the café to put her cat in a box. The Grocer, the Grocer’s Wife, and the Proprietor all agree that the Asian rhinoceros has one horn...
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The Grocer says that it may be logical, but the real question is if they’re all going...
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