“Time of the Doves” is an oddly peaceful and happy sounding name for this book. From the title, I would have thought this book was about a happy wedding or about a conflict coming to an end where everyone holds hands and sings Kumbaya. This novel, was quite the opposite. I found this novel quite depressing to read as it tugged at heart strings that I did not knew existed until now. Even though I have not experienced, and cannot begin to even imagine experiencing what Rodoreda describes in this book, I still felt that her artistry in her writing made it very easy for me to fall into the story she was telling.
One of the things that I wanted to mention first and foremost was that I found that all the female writers that we have read so far have been really good at making me feel deep emotions. Both Bombal and Rodoreda write about very personal experiences in a way that make me sympathize with the protagonists in a way that I did not think that I could. I also found that these authors both wrote about love and marriage in a way that was very dreadful. In both their novels love and romance seemed to be something that was fleeting in the protagonists’ relationships, and it was interesting to see these similarities in their writing.
Speaking on the content of the book, Rodoreda’s recount of Natalia’s married life was one that made me feel especially depressed. I feel like I talk about love a lot in these blogs posts, but I am going to once again speak to this book’s description of it. As someone who is scared by the idea of marriage and feelings, this book’s description of what married life is like does not make the idea of marriage any more better. To me, Rodoreda’s description of Natalia’s marriage to Quimet makes me think that domestic life will suck the joy out of a relationship; although, I believe that this joy drain that I see in the novel largely stems from how much of a POS Quimet is. Quimet gives Natalia the nickname “Colometa” which has an interesting symbolism to me. Colometa means dove which is usually a symbol of peace and freedom, but much like the doves that Quimet keeps and breeds, Natalia is caged. Unlike the doves however, she is caged by her marriage to him rather than the physical barrier that keeps the doves from the world. After reading these passages about their marriage, I fear that one day I will forget to cherish my significant other and end up plunging her into a pit of despair and unhappiness.
One of the biggest moral dilemmas in this book comes from Natalia’s decision to kill herself and her children. I think that there is a interesting parallel between her and the doves here. Natalia chooses to kill the doves because it is too hard to care for them. For the greater good of the well-being of the house, she would kill the doves so that they no longer cause her to suffer and suffer because of Natalia’s hate for them. With Natalia’s kids, she must face the decision to avert immense suffering and hardship for her and her kids by killing them, or to continue living despite the hardships the face. I think that it is interesting to see that she was capable of making the decision to take a life with the doves and also interesting to see how she decided not to end her and her kid’s lives.
All in all this book was moving. I think that my life was not flipped upside down after reading it, but it none the less left an impact hence the title of this blog. It was definitely one of the books of all time.
QUESTION: If there was a train heading down a track with 5 people on it, would you direct the train to a track with one person on it and kill that one person, or would you leave the track alone and let the 5 people die?
“I think that it is interesting to see that she was capable of making the decision to take a life with the doves and also interesting to see how she decided not to end her and her kid’s lives.” Although we have talked in the course of free indirect discourse, we still encounter narrators who experiment with this resource in very peculiar ways. After reading the novel, and even we follow the story from Natalia’s perspective, we still do not fully understand her decision process. Personally, I think this is Rodoreda’s achievement.
Your thoughts on the novel and how it deals with love, marriage, and life are very wise. Rodoreda is very good at writing complicated emotional stories, as shown by the contrast between the book’s peaceful title and its scary content. Your analysis helps me really understand her portrayal of human strength better.
Interesting. I didn’t draw much distinction between her killing the dove eggs and her ending up not killing her children because it seems she fully well intended to go home right after buying the acid to use it on her children, and the only reason she doesn’t is because Antonio steps in and offers her a job. But perhaps there’s something there I’m missing. To answer your trolley question, I probably would re-direct the train to hit one person instead of five, but that could change if I knew any of the people involved.
-Nathan Harris