Hi Romance Studiers,

While I was initially put off by Mercè Rodoreda’s writing style in his story “The Time of the Doves”, as I continued to read I found myself more engaged and captivated by the characterization of Natalie. The transition from depicting a woman going through the process of domestication through patriarchal forces to how a single mother must cope with the hardships of war was captivating. From a sociological perspective, I felt that this story captured the essence of the public versus private sphere, emphasizing the invisibilization of housework often done by women during this time period.

Seeing how Natalie is constantly pushed around by her first husband Quimet, as he forced his perspective onto her was difficult to read but was also a great portrayal of patriarchal forces within marriages. When reading about their marriage, even at the start, as she notes two months and a week, there were so many signs of an abusive relationship. The way Quimet punished Natalie as he chased her down the hall way and began to hit her was hard to digest, as Natalie recounts, “when I tried to get out he’d slap my head from above. ‘Bad girl!’ he shouted. And no matter where I tried to get out, whack!” (Rodoreda 44). So violent and brutal, yet through the lens of Natalie, so minimalised at the same time. Natalie’s minimalisation of traumatic events was a layer of her character that drew me into her. Several key moments in the story where I expected a greater reaction, it was stated in a sentence and moved on a sentence after. When Natalie described Antoni climbing into Rita’s bed and tried to choke her out, when she found out Quimet died in the war, and even when she learned her father died, it was all brushed over so quickly. Often a sentence to tell the audience she went outside to get air and collect herself, and that was all the emotion that was emoted from Natalie in those moments.

The privatization of the domestic life is heavily studied under sociology’s social conflict theory, as it a part of how women’s work is invisibalized and devalued. The part that I felt captured Natalie’s invisibilized work from the public sphere is when she is near her breaking point with the taking care of the doves, children, and the home. Natalie vocalized this when she depicts her hopelessness as Quimet complains about his leg due to tuberculosis, stating “I couldn’t tell her my children were like wildflowers no one took care of and my apartment, which used to be heaven, had turned into hell, and when I put the kids to bed at night and went ‘Ring, ring’ on their belly buttons to make them laugh I heard doves cooing and my nose was full of the stench of feverish newly hatched doves” (Rodoreda 101). The emotion behind her voice was so captivating and devastating to hear, it really reminded me about the hopelessness often involved in invisiblized housework.

The part that made me truly feel and cry when reading was the section when Natalie left her son Antonio at camp. It was so heartbreaking, and while uncomparable, reminded me of a memory my parents bring up constantly, about the first time they dropped me off at preschool. From what they recounted to me, I wailed and kicked and cried, and as they left me in the classroom and began to walk away, they saw me in their peripheral staring at them through the long window in the door. My question to the class is, what emotions did this story invoke in you, and was there a section that brought those feelings to an extreme?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. I’m excited to hear all your thoughts and feelings on the story this week 🙂