Monthly Archives: February 2024

The Time of The Doves

From only the first few pages in, I already felt the effect of Rodoreda’s writing style- many instances seem like a whirlwind or a snapshot of events, with the narration of someone who sort of seems like they’re always rushing to a get to their point yet they also seem to be constantly rambling about something. Particularly for Natalia’s point of view, a lot of times it almost seems as if life is just happening TO her- like all these events, even the more mundane ones, are like cards that are just being dealt to her and she just happened to be there. I mean once the war starts this is obviously the case but even before this, in the most normal day to day occurrences, she speaks as if things were sort of being done “to” her, and I guess it really does translate a certain sense of vulnerability and I guess helplessness in a lot of situations she is in. I think this feeling is both relevant in the context of gender as well as class.

To be honest, I accidentally confused this novel to be another where the quick summary was about a female character being constantly physically abused by their husband (I think it might’ve been an old novel for the last RMST class or something) so that sort of impacted my view of Quimet from the get go (as in I hated tf outta him whenever he showed up even when he didn’t really do anything yet), but after I read the part where he died I got really confused and went back to check and realized my mistake. So all this is to sort of preface that I might’ve have a warped opinion on him. But between Natalia and Quimet’s relationship, I found that this helpless tone of the narration really highlighted the gender roles within their relationship, and to some degree I feel that it is because of the position Natalia was in that in a lot of ways shapes her voice in the novel. Like she isn’t able to just tell her husband “I don’t want those damn birds in the house anymore”, she has to go and secretly get rid of them in her own ways. So the emotional tone of this story I think conveyed really well the positions that Natalia was in, wrestling with one horrible thing after another.

My question to all this week is: Do you think this was the saddest story we have read by far? if yes why, and if no which one was it for you?

Black Shack Alley- Colonialism and Racism

I can’t quite believe that just last week we were talking about incest and now we are making a sharp turn towards racism and colonialism. Black Shack Alley is one of the stand out novels that I have enjoyed so far in this class. This reading feels a lot more reminiscent of common literary novels that we would feature in middle school or high school, not merely because it concerns race and colonialism, but because it offers a unique perspective and portrayal whilst still highly relevant to the setting and topic of the novel. I think that the author’s writing style is very powerful and vivid especially in his depiction of the of emotional truths to the story (for lack of a better word) that goes beyond just language to evoke imagery or to paint a picture ; he seems to have this ability to envelop the reader into the moment and I feel like considering the message and setting of the book, that is a very praise worthy feat. I feel like in this case, authenticity in experiences carries the bulk of the messaging, and thus a lot of the messages in the book need not be a direct finger point yet it still maintains the same effect.

There were a lot of parts of this book that were really striking to me. One of the many memorable quotes to me was “I already knew by intuition that the devil, misery, and death were more or less the same evil individual, who persecuted the blacks above all. And I wondered in vain what blacks could have done to the devil and to the béké to be so oppressed by both.” which was a thought by Jose when he was asking questions to Médouze. I feel like no words can ever describe the sadness you feel when you hear something like that, especially from a CHILD. As if the treatment would in any way ever be self-inflicted. I was reading up on some background for the book, and I found that the author only passed away in 2006 (and that the book is somewhat based on his own life and experiences). I think colonial history as it has been taught often seems like something of the past, without acknowledgement that it still controls the power dynamics of the world today and the conditions of colonialism for a lot of countries still remain basically the same regardless of legality. This is similar to how at the time when Jose was still at the plantation, slavery was technically abolished however the material conditions of the place remained largely the same.

A question to everyone this week: how has education played a role in your reckoning of social positioning within your ethnic background? I’m curious, because coming from an Asian immigrant household education is basically everything and the cultural messaging is very strong, and I find that to be a noteworthy topic within the book as well which made me curious about others.

 

Agostino – Freud enters the chat

Show of hands who here was ever thirsting after their mother? Hopefully nobody raised their hand, but our main character this week, Agostino, can certainly not say the same.

I can’t believe the start of this book started like it did. I’m actually a little bit traumatized, but I guess obviously not as bad as Agostino was traumatized on the boat ride home with his mom and the young man. I feel like all of us (especially as we grow up) really rebel against imagining our parents as any sort of potential sexual beings- the mere thought of it grosses us out. That’s why it alarmed me so much to see Agostino interact or describe his mom as such. So I don’t really know what to make of his gradual descent from seeing his mom through a more filial lens which gradually turned more and more sexual. Before the whole incest thing really went into 5th gear, I thought that his mother’s actions were quite peculiar, this sort of looseness and unabashed behaviour, but now looking back, its hard to tell if his mother lacked this sort of sense of boundary or that the narration was a bit deceptive to reveal I guess the subconscious thoughts that Agostino didn’t really put a name to just yet.

As hard as it is to move on from talking about potential incest, there’s something else about this book that caught my attention. The rustle and tussle of the male friendships within this book is something that fascinates me and I think I see it sometimes in real life too. I don’t think the relationship between these young boys are representative of all or even most young male friendships, but this sort of crude and tough wrestling into a social hierarchy seems quite common among younger males, especially as I recall my experiences in middle school. The reason why this intrigues me is not only because the female equivalent is LARGELY different, but also the actual psychological effects in my view are quite worth looking into; I feel like this might be how inferiority complexes develop.

In some sense, I think that all of us can relate to Agostino in some ways (obviously not in the incestuous way, hopefully). I personally really connected with his emotions about losing your identity whilst not having acquired a new one just yet, and how lost that makes you feel in the moment to have to be suspended in the air like that, not yet knowing what pieces will fall into place.

This week my question to you all is: What do you think referring to his mother as “Big” means in this novel? What does it signify or how does it serve the author’s purpose?