{"id":23,"date":"2024-02-27T22:24:49","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T06:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nadiaulanowskarmst202\/?p=23"},"modified":"2024-02-27T22:24:49","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T06:24:49","slug":"natalia-time-of-the-doves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nadiaulanowskarmst202\/2024\/02\/27\/natalia-time-of-the-doves\/","title":{"rendered":"Natalia? – Time of the Doves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi everyone,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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This week we all read <\/span>Time of the Doves <\/span><\/i>written by <\/span>Merc\u00e8 Rodoreda. I quite liked this novel even though I found it difficult to start, it discusses important themes about war, love, gender, life and family. I would like to discuss the main character, Natalia and her growth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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In the beginning of the novel, Natalia starts off as a young woman who does not have much control over her own life, and whose life trajectory is determined by whoever would ask to marry her. However, once she was married she didn’t seem to love her husband, and he used to father his children. At this moment in time, she accepted her fate and did not complain even though she knew it was wrong. Her husband’s abusive acts and the way she was treated by others around her meant that she was consistently used and objectified for the benefit of others like when she became responsible for the doves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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In the middle of the novel, her demeanor completely changes. Her focus becomes the children she never actually wanted. She swallows her pride, makes intense sacrifices, tries to find work and hustles to provide for her children. However, she is ultimately unsuccessful and even debates killing herself and her children as an act of mercy because they were miserable and I think she really did love them. Her actions and sacrifices in which she develops her character and becomes more autonomous demonstrate the consequences of war, outside of death itself. She proves that war really changes people, that conflict has profound effects on both her personality and actions that seemed virtually impossible. Ultimately, instead of simply being a wife after her husband’s death she becomes an independent mother who prioritizes her children and herself. I think that her husband’s death was transformative in this sense as it presented her with an opportunity to increase personal autonomy.<\/span><\/p>\n

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At the end of the novel, she begins to revert back to her previous patterns of becoming dependent on men. Unlike her previous relationship with Quiment, this marriage\u00a0 provides her with a sense of safety and autonomy. This marriage is thought of strategically (like Quiment), with her kids in mind. He marries him, because he is safe and will be a good father figure to her children, and he desires a family of his own. At her daughter Rita\u2019s wedding, that seems slightly concerning because of her age the reader sees Natalia as truly happy, dancing with her son, in a happy marriage knowing that her daughter is loved as well.\u00a0 This idea is further exemplified when she is referred to as\u00a0 Senora Natalia, it becomes clear that she has matured, learnt many things and become an independent woman who others may look up to.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Discussion Question: What are some moments in the novel that are important to Natalia\u2019s character development? Why?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Thanks!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi everyone,\u00a0   This week we all read Time of the Doves written by Merc\u00e8 Rodoreda. I quite liked this novel even though I found it difficult to start, it discusses important themes about war, love, gender, life and family. I would like to discuss the main character, Natalia and her growth.\u00a0   In the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100280,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[30,33,3,14,6,29,31,32],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-time-of-the-doves","tag-children","tag-family","tag-gender","tag-life","tag-love","tag-marriage","tag-motherhood","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nadiaulanowskarmst202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nadiaulanowskarmst202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nadiaulanowskarmst202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nadiaulanowskarmst202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100280"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nadiaulanowskarmst202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nadiaulanowskarmst202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nadiaulanowskarmst202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nadiaulanowskarmst202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nadiaulanowskarmst202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nadiaulanowskarmst202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}