The Rose Code

Roses appear throughout The Rose Code as emblems of the mathematical beauty and mystery associated with codebreaking, as in this quote from Chapter 12:

Her nose was almost touching the paper in front of her, the letters marching along in a straight line over her rods, but somewhere behind her eyes she could see them spiraling like rose petals, unspooling, floating from nonsense into order (106).

Roses are associated with Beth, who is lost in the pattern of a rose when she first appears. Later, she nicknames the code that Dilly left unsolved at his death the Rose Code, after Dilly compares the code to a rose during Beth’s last visit with him. Comparing codes to roses translates the appeal of cryptanalysis into a broadly accessible symbol for beauty, which makes Beth’s fascination with her work more relatable. This, in turn, clarifies Beth’s priorities: For her, code comes first. In view of her obsession, Beth’s questionable choices appear more forgivable. When she sits among the wilted and dying roses of Clockwell Sanitarium, she earns the sympathy of Mab, Osla, and readers alike.