My first impressions when starting this novel was that I was not going to enjoy it. I found myself often bored at the beginning until about midway through. I understood Natalia’s frustration when it came to the doves, as I felt that if dirty birds were flying around my house, I too would eventually be fed up with it. I didn’t quite understand, however, that it was mainly Natalia’s job to clean up after and feed the doves, when Quimet was the one bringing them home. I think it may be some sort of foreshadowing as to what happens later in the story when Quimet dies and leaves his children for Natalia to take care of. I also think that the doves may have some sort of connection to Natalia’s and Quimets children’s as Natalia had the same thought process about both, when it came down to trying times. As we saw with the doves, when Natalia was at her breaking point, she decided the best idea for her would be to damage the dove eggs, so they would not hatch. She had the same thought process with her kids in a sense, when she felt she was unable to take care of them, her best idea was to kill them. I understand these were very difficult times, and she thought they were bound to die anyway, but as we see later on, they ended up surviving and thriving after the war. I feel that Natalia almost gives up too easily with certain things. Personally, I would never be able to live knowing I killed my children, as you never know what may happen. If Natalia did kill her children, and then met Antoni who was able to provide for her, she would have had to live the rest of her life knowing that they may have lived. Although, I can almost understand her thought process as well. The kids were living in less than ideal situations, so I understand how Natalia wouldn’t want them to continue in their suffering. I think this book personally brought a lot of aspects of war into perspective to me. My naive thoughts surrounding war could never imagine how someone would ever think to kill their children, but I can understand now how when in desperate times, someone could see how that would be the best way to escape.
Do you think if you were Natalia, the thought of killing your children would have crossed your mind?
“…it was mainly Natalia’s job to clean up after and feed the doves, when Quimet was the one bringing them home”. Moreover, they take over her space! First she must vacacate her things from the patio shed, and then find a new place to hang her laundry, and then sacrifice living space and chaos within her own apartment. Could we say that they even invade not just her personal space but even her person as she begins to feel she smells of the doves/pigeons?
I wonder if there is something symbolic about space here…as well as about the birds…
Hi Sophia! I really enjoyed reading your blog post! I agree with you that Natalia tended to quit pretty easily and I think that is shown when she thinks killing her family and dying is the better option. I think if I were in that situation of desperate measure, I think I would try to do as many other options before giving up to opt to death.