Rodoreda- The Time of the Doves

Of all the novels thus far, this one had the most unexpected ending and plot twist. The story starts rather sweetly, and suddenly escalates until the main character, Natalia, makes a horrifying decision. Initially, Natalia gets swept off of her feet and marries a man who ends up not being a good husband or person. Quimet, the husband, is rather lazy and undependable and displays abusive and toxic behaviours consistently. He continuously brings home doves but leaves them in the care of Natalia. In a way, I think that what Natalia was doing to the doves foreshadowed the climax of the story. Her husband had left her with helpless animals when she was unable to adequately care for them. 

The way in which the story was written translates to how frantic Natalia may have been during that time. The author uses run-on sentences to replicate thought processes that Natalia may be having. She exhausts herself emotionally and physically as she develops fears about the war and surrounding world. The story is very tragic and explores how desperation can cause irrational beliefs and ideas. 

The description of the family living a "bare life" is very accurate. Due to her lack of resources, her family is forced to merely survive and they are unable to truly live. This causes Natalia to make the extreme decision to kill herself and her children after her husband is killed. I think part of the reason that Natalia's decision was so shocking was because it was the complete opposite of what one would expect from a mother. Her actions do not fall in line with how we perceive mothers or parents to behave. I feel like the audience would expect Natalia to do everything possible and sacrifice herself in order to protect her children. Perhaps, the reason she made such a radical decision was due to her surroundings at the time. She saw the impact of the war through the chaos and destruction around her, and therefore she decided that she must take extreme action. If her family would have fallen on hard times during a different time period, she may not have decided to act in that way. Her surroundings are a factor when questioning why she would make such a desperate and irrational decision.

My question to the class is, do you think that Natalia's decision to kill herself and her family was brave/strong or cowardly/inhumane? And do you agree that Natalia's decision may not have been so reckless if it were not for the war surrounding her? Or can we see through her other actions that she may have regardless made the same choice? 


Comments

  1. Michael Li23 February 2022 at 22:35

    Hi Madi! Thank you for your post. I agree that Quimet did not take enough family responsibilities and generated some negativity in Natalia’s life. However, I think they both loved each other, and Quimet brought some new perspectives and senses of existence into Natalia’s life. Since her choice to marry Quimet over his original fiance, she determined her relationship and experienced something abstract and new. To answer your question, I think although everyone has the right to die with integrity, Natalia’s survival was a miraculous gift that helped her see a major turning point in her life.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jennifer Nagtegaal24 February 2022 at 19:50

    "I think that what Natalia was doing to the doves foreshadowed the climax of the story." - very interesting observation, Madi! I had not thought of this one rather disturbing event in relation to the other...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Agostino

The novel Agostino  by Alberto Moravia was an interesting read. I can confidently say that the story was not what I was expecting it to be. When the novel started, I enjoyed reading the story and seeing the progression of the character. It began to confuse me and then shock me with the content of the story. It followed a young Agostino on a vacation with his mother and all of the things that happen to them. The story examines the intricacies and confusion of growing up. He struggles with bullying and being picked on by older boys. He then becomes eager to belong to the group that had previously picked on him. He explores his confusing feelings surrounding his mother as she leaves him alone daily. He feels overprotective and confusing sexual feelings.  Most of the story takes place on the beach and I enjoyed reading that. I like when stories take place in natural environments and can greatly explain the setting of the story. A strong story setting creates a more enjoyable reading experi
Read more

The Shrouded Woman Analysis

 I thought that the narration of the story being told from the perspective of a dead woman was a very interesting take. I have never read a text told that way, through the eyes of the deceased. I enjoy reading stories about romance and loss (of love, of a person) so I enjoyed this read. I've scrolled through my classmates blog posts and it was interesting to see that most of them have also enjoyed this reading the most. There are many things about this story that make it such a beautiful and interesting read. This story feels very intimate and personal, almost as if reading a diary. I found that this made it very enjoyable to read in a way that the other readings were unable to captivate my attention, despite a somewhat similar style. It was beautiful to read how Ana María reflected upon her life, her love and happiness, but also her sadness and regrets. She feels love in both its beauty and its agony. She holds both happiness and resentment in her relationships throughout her life
Read more

Georges Perec

Georges Perec's W, or the Memory of Childhood is a very interesting way of illustrating trauma. It had an unexpected and unnerving storyline. It was a semi-autobiographical work of post-modernist literature. One half of the story is fictional and follows a utopian olympic whilst the other is constructed of real childhood memories. The main character adapts the identity of Winkler to evade military service. The second part follows a mythical Olympics hosted on an island where the winners are idolized and the losers are tortured. At first it was hard to understand how the stories were connected.  I found that this novel had me trying to piece together the story until the third story instalment. The land of W was an escape from the harsh realities of the world during the Holocaust. The island of W was a mirrored reality of what the author was enduring. It was a different type of retelling of the Holocaust. The fact that the island was called W is symbolic of double lives and how the n
Read more