I know that the book is much better than the movie, but I haven't been able to find it to read it. Does anyone know what disease John gave Ellen in Africa? And what happened to April's arm? I'm hoping someone who read the book or watched the movie more closely can answer.
shareI think it was a venerial disease.
shareAt first Ellen said in her diary that it was Mallaria that they were inflicted with. Further entries in her diary subtly insinuate that John had given Ellen a venereal disease that re-occured throughout their lives.
As far as Aprils arm goes, she was born with what Ellen called "a withered arm" which implies that her limb was malformed and unseable.
You should really go to the library and check out " The diary of Ellen RImbauer". Its the real story and the movie isnt factual.
Neither are factual, but the book is better.
shareProbably syphillis. There was mention of madness. Syphillis can cause madness if it goes untreated.
There's an art to making love. And you don't even have a paintbrush.
it was syphillis what john had. it is carried by man and suffered by woman. it will make the mans brain turn to mush (mental) if un cured
shareWell in the movie Rose Red, Joyce says that Ellen wrote in her diary that what she got in Africa was a disease "carried by men, and suffered by women." And she later blames April's withered arm on her husband's sexual appetites and the disease she suffered while in Africa.
But I honestly don't think it was syphillis if it would cause men's "brains to mush," because the whole time Ellen was sick in bed, he was out having a grand old time without her, and the disease never seemed to effect him. Not then, and not later on.
It takes many years for a man to feel the effects of syphillus. He died long before it would have began to affect him.
"There is some one I must protect." - Riza Hawkeye, FMA
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John had syphillis. Ellen tells Sukeena at the end of the movie that John is starting to go mad because of the disease. I think she says something like this; The disease is driving him mad. It can be cured in women, but makes men go mad"
Can`t believe you looked!!
Definitely SYPHILLIS!
shareAlso (and i'm watching the movie right now) on the boat to Africa, While discussing John's "appetites" Ellen mentions he never seems quite sane. Dunno about the book though.
The only thing that matters is the ending. -Mort
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Ellen couldn't have any more children because April had to be delivered by cesarean and then Ellen was given a hysterectomy.
shareSyphilis had no cure (for men or women) until the advent of antibiotics. The author Isak Dinesen (female) died of syphilis. So for the storyline of "Ellen Rimbauer" to imply that women could be cured and only men would decline into madness is ridiculous.
shareYou are 100% right!!
Pat
Agreed. If untreated syphilis kills.
shareSorry Turner, the BOOK isn't factual either. The whole damn thing is gothic fiction, didn't you know?
This is why the movie's much better than the book, it doesn't have half the unnecessary debouched sexual crap.
It was syphilis. Rose Red took place in the early 1900's and by that time they were treating syphilis with arsenic (which is basically the same treatment for heartworm in dogs today).
I looked this up online- after remembering Out Of Africa, and how they 'cured' Karen Blixen with arsenic after her husband gave her syphilis.