Reading “The Time of the Doves” by Marcè Rodoreda made me feel lots of big girl feelings, I was intrigued, disgusted, confused, furious, and most of all just straight up sad. I think this book speaks a lot to generational trauma, especially in women. It reminds me of the type of generational trauma that is brought up a lot today, female rage.
A quote that really stuck with me was from page 39, “I’ll (Father Joan from the church) marry you, and I think it’s better if you do it calmly. I know young people are high-spirited. They want to live and live fast…but a life, if it’s really going to be a life, has to be lived slowly.” I resonated with this quote because often I feel that I go through life, especially in university, fast because I always am stressed and live my life by checklists and just getting the next thing done. But when the year end always get sad at how fast it went.
I noticed as well, though I’m not quite sure what it means, that colours were brought up many times throughout the novel. Noticeably the colour blue. In fact when I word searched “blue” apparently it comes up 61 times. Like I said I don’t know what this means, maybe it wasn’t intentional, maybe Rodoreda like the colour blue, maybe it’s because blue is associated with sadness.
Quimet was, I feel, the embodiment of a women’s worst nightmare. From the beginning I was practically screaming (in my head) at Natalia to RUN. He was a true gaslighter, not supportive or kind ever, and did not respect Natalia in any way right up until his death. I have a feeling she was attracted to the adventure he seemed to bring, and her poor ex, I guess nice guys do finish last. I think there is something to be said about Natalia’s character as she faces all the bad things that happen to her
I also had a bit of a laugh because of Quimet’s mother and her obsession with bows. There is a very prevalent trend right now where girls and putting bows on everything as a way to express femininity and girlhood, inspired by the trend of “coquette” and the uprising of “girl”. Bows will get tied around mens biceps or sports items and saying “im just a girl” or “this is me if you even care”. I know that the author could have never know this would be a trend today as her book was read but it gave me a good little chuckle as I find the trend cute and funny.
Question: Why do you think colour (especially blue) was brought up so much? Coincidence or meaning?
Monthly Archives: February 2024
Agostino – Mommy AND Daddy Issues?
If you read my last blog post you may remember that I found The Shrouded Women quite anxiety inducing, for this weeks story I read Agostino by Alberto Moravia but if I thought last weeks story was “bad” (in the sense of feeling, not content, I quite enjoyed The Shrouded Women!) then this weeks story was worse. There was a discomfort that engulfed me throughout this story from start to finish. When I read that a theme in this book was sexuality I certainly did not expect it to be portrayed in this way. Although I must say it was interesting to read of it from this young innocent boy perspective, I feel like it’s quite “taboo” in a way for society and therefore an untapped subtopic within sexuality. I hesitate to say I enjoyed it (it was an interesting read but I didn’t quite enjoy it) just because of the fact that its sexual acts and concept through the lens of a young boy (A MINOR AS WELL), so to me it just feels wrong.
I noticed that throughout the story a word was changed in relation to his mother. Throughout the first part of the book Agostino’s mother is referred to as “his mother”, but I noticed that on page 44 she’s referred to as “The mother”. I thought this was more interesting as it takes away Agostino’s personal relationship with his mother as he learns more about the world and her, just by using one word. This happens throughout the book whenever his is upset/disgusted with his mother, it changes to “the” mother.
Again I feel as though this story objectifies women, it puts women’s sexuality almost as a thing to be ashamed of, through the way Agostino is in such disgust with his mother. On the other hand a bunch of young boys are running around naked having fun while their old man leader watches! It’s hard to say because it is literally his mother and we are only getting Agostinos sexually confused perspective. However I feel like this book really put women’s sexuality to shame.
I don’t think that there was ever a mention of Agostino’s father and I can’t help but wonder the effect of having a loving father figure would have on this story. Maybe Agostino wouldn’t be so surprised or repulsed about intimacy and sexuality if he has seen his mother with his father being affectionate. Maybe he wouldn’t have this strange thoughts of interest in his mother sexuality or maybe he would want to kill his father and have his mother for himself (a very Freudian concept)…who knows! I do feel like having the father present would change the trajectory of this story quite a bit. I even wonder what would happen if roles were reverse and his father was the only one present with no mention of his mother. Would Agostino be so horrified if he saw his father naked and on boats with women?
Question: How do you think a father figure would have changed this story?