The Rosenberg’s are first mentioned in the very beginning of of chapter one. Esther begins to talk about the summer that they were executed by the electric chair, and how she was annoyed with hearing about it. She did, however, state that she couldn’t help to wonder how it would feel to be electrocuted.Esther also brought up the topic in the beginning of chapter nine, where her and Hilda walking in the hotel cafeteria. Esther tries to stir up conversation by addressing the Rosenberg’s and notes that the execution was that night. It’s not said why they were executed, but Hilda’s response of disgust towards them suggests that it was something that was so terrible, that they didn’t deserve to be alive.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg’s were American citizens who were executed on June 19, 1953. They crime they were charged with was espionage, which is the act of spying or using spies to obtain political and military information. In this case, the Rosenberg’s were accused of sharing atomic bomb information to the Soviet Union in the 1950s. Their execution was contriversal because, as the time of the trail, there wasn’t any concrete evidence that tied them with other atomic spies that were under investigation. It wasn’t until some time after the investigation was more evidence found that showed that Julius ” had for some time been disclosing U.S. military secrets to the U.S.S.R. from his post in the U.S. Army Signal Corps.” according to the cold War Museum website. this evidence only confirmed Julius’ involvement, but not Ethel’s.
It was very enlightening to see how the Rosenbergs’ reference came into play with the context of the story, as it developed. Esther’s fascination with death and her experience with shock therapy help us understand why she was so interested in their execution.
I agree with you Andie. The Rosenbergs’ death by execution looks ahead to Esther’s experience with electroshock therapy later in the novel. Esther might have seen this as a shared experience with Rosenbergs and it might have suggested that madness may not be just a physiological issue for Esther. Madness could just be another name for people who don’t fit in with the values of mainstream society, like the Rosenbergs.