I started this book slowly, a few pages a day. Then I read the entire second half in one sitting. At first Natalia’s problems are domestic, thanks to her tyrant of a husband, Quimet. But as the war takes over, Natalia and her children are brought to the brink of starvation and all she can do is try to keep them alive.
What I think broke my heart the most was Natalia’s almost detached narration. The story is told in first person, with many long, run-on sentences starting with “and”. Even so, Natalia doesn’t talk much, and we don’t really see her thoughts in depth. She rarely says how she feels beyond “I was tired” or “I felt sad” but that is the point. She has to block these things out in order to cope with the horrors around her. This woman is deeply traumatized, even before the war fully began.
I think the first passage of the novel spells out the rest of story:
“…I didn’t feel like dancing or even going out because I’d spent the whole day selling pastries and my fingertips hurt from tying so many gold ribbons…but she made me come even though I didn’t want to because that’s how I was. It was hard for me to say no if someone asked me to do something.”
This idea echoes throughout the novel. She marries Quimet even though deep down she prefers Pere. She does all this tortuous work around the house. She lets him name her children. She lets some eighty-doves take over their apartment because Quimet and the children want her too and so on and so forth. Then at the end when Antoni the grocer offers to marry her, she agrees, for her sake and the children’s sake. Natalia is a character who simply can’t say no.
But this is not just a personality trait, she is literally not a position to say no. As a woman in Spain during the civil war, she is not offered the opportunity of choice.
And I wonder, do you think she really found happiness at the end, or was it just another quiet compromise? I like to think she’s found a kind of happiness at the end. Still, this novel broke my heart into a million little pieces. There are so many little moments that got to me like all the times she described the colour blue like the blue of Mateu’s eyes and the blue lights and when she dissociates staring off into the sea and when she’s digging out breadcrumbs from cracks in the kitchen table and…
7 replies on “The Time of the Doves (And…)”
Hi, Sofia. I really have the same opinion as you about Natalia, this character. And I totally agree with you saying that she is a character who simply can’t say no, and is not even offered the opportunity of choices!
Hi Sofia,
I agree with your take on Natalie’s characterization. I also took notice of her frequent use of “and,” and wondered whether that is due to her unfamiliarity and awkwardness with the life she is handed, or if it is perhaps the only way she feels she is able to express herself.
Answer to your question: While I believe she is certainly happier at the end than she has been throughout the rest of the book, I think it’s quite literally “the happiest she can be,” meaning it is the most she can feel in her compromise.
Hey sofia,
I really like how you point about natalia not being able to say no. I realized that what seems like passivity is actually shaped by her lack of choices as a woman during that time. This made me learn that her quiet endurance is a form of survival, not simply weakness. I also agree that the ending feels bittersweet and Antoni offers stability, but it still feels like a compromise rather than pure happiness.
Hi Sofia, I really like the question you included at the end. It really surprised me when I read Rita got married with Vicenç, as she said she did not want that. And the description of the wedding literally made me think of the wedding ceremony of Quimet and Natalia. Even though they are happy at that moment, the life after the marriage is hard to anticipate.
Well noticed the relevancy of the first paragraph. Definitely, the lack of agency is a constant throughout the whole book, it could be interesting to think when (if she does) does she gain agency.
We can discuss that on class.
See you tomorrow!
Julián.
Great post!
“What I think broke my heart the most was Natalia’s almost detached narration.”
Yes, and I think this is a really good point… in some ways, even by the end, my feeling is we don’t really “know” Natalia.
100% Natalia can’t say no. I’m glad you acknowledge her context as a woman in Spain during the civil war, so she is not offered the opportunity of choice. This book breaks my heart and makes me angry for her.
Sarah