Theme Of Obsessions In The Orchid Thief

Obsessions can lead one to greater heights, but it can also leech off of him until only a shadow remains. That’s the message writer Susan Orlean conveys to readers in the first chapter of her award winning novel The Orchid Thief. This surprising real life account by Orlean takes place at the simultaneously rural and urban state of Florida. When Orlean hears of a horticulturalist’s, John Laroche, trial for having stolen a rare species of orchids from a local state park, she immediately researches deeper into the subject in case “this ball of paper might bloom”, eventually leading her to Laroche himself. Laroche, the reader soon discovers, has a consistent habit of emerging himself in fleeting passions that disappear as suddenly as they emerge. From turtles, to coral fish, to orchids, Laroche’s interests remain as unpredictable as his perseverance is unfaltering. Once Laroche decides he’s interested in a new field, he gives his soul for the occupation, spending every

Soon, he finds himself at the center of the orchid community, with everyone only socializing with him to gain access to his impressive collection of plants. As Laroche says in “The Millionaire’s Hothouse”, “‘[w]hen I had my own nursery I sometimes felt like all the people swarming around were going to eat me alive,’ Laroche said. ‘I felt like they were that gigantic parasitic plant and I was the dying host tree’”. Laroche eventually loses himself in the world of orchids, leading him to go to unimaginable lengths to acquire the rarest and most unattainable species known to mankind. From illegally removing wild ghost orchids from a local park to “calling all around the world every day, tracking down unusual plants,” Laroche perseveres in his search. Even his love of orchids, however, proves ephemeral, and he leaves the occupation after having immersed himself in it for twelve