TW: brief mentions of suicide, abusive relationships, and political turmoil
Frank Brangwyn, “For the Relief of Women and Children in Spain”
If any of the information is incorrect or if I missed something, please let me know! It isn;t my intention to spread false information and I’d love to learn more from my mistakes!
The time that rolls on and on in people’s hearts and makes them roll along with it and gradually changes us inside and out and makes us what we’ll be on our dying day.” Rodoreda, 183
Mercè Rodoreda, 183
Let me ask you a question: can “love” and “dependency” be synonymous?
Hello, my loves! I hope we all enjoyed our very well-deserved break! Hopefully, you all had the chance to wear your radiant smiles today. Throughout my break, I read Mercè Rodoreda’s “The Time of the Doves”. I admit, I was very excited entering the novel knowing she is now our second (or at least my second) female author. I anticipated many gut-wrenching themes, perhaps various injustices tied to being a woman in the 20th century. My immediate thought, however, upon finishing this beautiful novel was, “Is this what love really is?” That question did remain in the banks of my brain when reading, and I thought I’d ask you this question before we course through my exploration. This idea of love from our protagonist Natalia takes many forms. 90% of the time, these forms made me unsettled and even broke my heart at times. I’m not afraid to admit that I did tear up at a few portions as well. So what even is this book?
To summarise the novel as quickly as possible, we follow Natalia. Natalia has a boyfriend (now ex-fiance) named Pere. This relationship, however, is short-lived as Natalia eventually switches teams to be with a young man named Quimet whom she eventually marries. Quimet appears to be dashing, charming, and lively man, but it is clear through his actions that Natalia’s life isn’t smoothe sailing from their marriage forward. The novel follows Natalia and her married life with Quimet, along with her motherhood over their two children, Toni and Rita, and her life persevering through the political turmoil of Spain. Did I mention that we are set during the Spanish Civil War?
Being that the book was set during a period of immense political turmoil, the poli sci student in me did research into the Spanish Civil War and how might these experiences have impacted Rodoreda so heavily to have written a book positioned in it. A quick crash course, the Spanish Civil War was a military revolt from 1936-1939 against the Republican government of Spain (mostly consisted of Spain’s Conservative unions and elements) and the Nationalists (or “rebels” as others labelled it”). The war was a result of a plethora of structural causes around polarizing political beliefs and Spanish lifestyles. Rodoreda’s established career as a journalist and short-story writer in Spain during the 1930s was cut short as she and a plethora of other journalists and writers were exiled during this time (hers lasting 30 years). It was not until 1961 that her novel La Plaça del Diamant (translated to English as “The Time of the Doves” and or “Diamond Square”) when Rodoreda was acclaimed as being the greatest Catalan writer of the century. Before her death in 1983, Rodoreda wrote a prologue to La Plaça del Diamant, describing Natalia as ‘in a constant state of wonder…[she] has only one thing in common with me, namely the fact that she feels at a loss in the midst of the world” (West Camel). Additionally, when researching, I came across this statue.
This is “La Colometa” located in Barcelona, Spain. A sculpture by artist Javier Medina-Campeni which was made to represent the protagonist of La Plaça del Diamant (more on my thoughts on this later).
I feel like The Time of the Doves is one of those novels you can’t really connect and learn from unless you understand the historical significance imbuing its pages and its significance to the hands who wrote it.
Personally, when I reflected on the contents of the book knowing a bit more about the author behind it, Natalia is a reflection of Mercè Rodoreda in the sense that she is the personification of struggle during the Spanish Civil War or, more generally, political turmoil. Her being a female author and her protagonist also being female introduced feminist themes to me as well. Of course, not all books written by women are feminist literature. Maybe I analyzed this book from a skewed perspective. At least for me, I dissected this book with feminist undertones given the patriarchal nature Quimet imbued within their relationship and household. Here are some examples:
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! his hand would hit my head. “Bad girl!” From then on he played that joke a lot.
Rodoreda, 44
This quote to me had my eyebrows furrow out of concern. Natalia was describing such a violent spur at the hands of her husband. And yet, she downplays it as a “joke” he would play often. Is violence against your wife so normal that we classify these continuous episodes of violence as a “joke”?
He delivered a long sermon about men and women and the rights of the one and the rights of the other and when I was able to cut in I asked him:
“What if I just can’t bring myself to like something?”
“You’ve got to like it, because that means it’s something you don’t understand.”
Rodoreda, 22
This quote to me made me think, “Oh, she can’t think for herself now, can she?” It’s not that she can’t think for herself, it’s that she’s almost prohibited from doing so. This brings me back to the previously mentioned “The Second Sex” by Simone de Beauvoir in The Shrouded Woman analysis. I’d also like to add the works of Betty Friedan in “The Feminine Mystique” where she explores this “problem without a name”. Women are expected to be complicit and happy with the roles they’ve been designated to. In these two quotes, Natalia cannot think for herself and must remain complicit to the life orchestrated for her simply because she is the wife in this dynamic.
When he said goodbye and I was alone again I looked at the sky and it was all black. And I don’t know . . . all together, it was very mysterious.
Rodoreda, 24
Lastly, this quote. I feel like a recurring question for me was “Is love and dependency synonymous?” Natalia has reached a point in her life where her entire life oscillates around her husband, her children, and her housework. Specifically dissecting her relationship with Quimet, it’s as if Quimet is the sun and Natalia is orbiting him. This isn’t the only instance where Natalia doesn’t know what to do with herself in her husband’s absence. Natalia has grown an unhealthy dependency on Quimet mainly due to his dominance over her and in their relationship. She feels she cannot think or do anything without the guidance of her husband, feeling “alone” and lost without him. It’s as if she’s lost her pointing compass with no direction in life. And even when he passes and Natalia finds another man, she still doesn’t 100% let go of Quimet. I’ve read some analyses calling it love, but I personally wouldn’t label that toxicity as love. If anything, her tethering to Quimet is the lingering dependency that was fostered when they were still together (That’s just me tho). I find this to be very revealing about the gender dynamic in this period. It’s not just injustices towards women because we add on the political turmoil that futher exacerbates motifs of violence, surveillance, etc amongst all partoes. Women cannot be their own functioning person without their key. This left me in a period of questioning. Then, is this husband/wife relationship even “love”? Perhaps yes? Or perhaps not. Whatever it is, it is just translated in such a concerning way.
Side note: There’s a movie for this?? I need to watch it! The actress (Sílvia Munt) is so beautiful! Where to watch!!!
Going back to the La Colometa sculpture, I found it interesting that “La Colometa” means “little dove” or “little pigeon”. And this was the same name that Quimet would exchange with Natalia. I find it ironic that this is a puppy name. A puppy name that is meant to be something cute, something fun, but most importantly, something that is meant to represent genuine compassion within love. Yet the novel reveals something else. Quimet is described as being young, dashing, cool, and the typicaly love interest archetype. Yet, behind closed doors, he’s is the opposite of that. Their whole relationship is the opposite. Sure there are some good moments, but look at the sculpture! Why call her “la colometa” if you refuse to treat her with the gentleness you’d expect to treat a dove? Why use puppy names when you treat her like complete garbage? Why associate such a disappointing relationship with something as pure as a dove? It’s not just ironic to me, it actually disgusts me. (This feeds into the Public vs Private sphere phenomenon, more on this soon).
But maybe, perhaps, this novel is more than just the female narrative. Upon some deep dives, I’ve read some articles about literary studies around Rodoreda’s works and there are a few claims that “the author’s rejection of feminism as a movement” (Miller 856) must be considered. I don’t want to comment on a beautiful piece of literature while being ignorant assuming this is correct. It made me realize that my ideas of feminism are not uniform internationally. My ideas of feminism are set in a North American lens as that is what I’ve studied. Perhaps it is different in Spain and during that specific period. I would love if anyone had any knowledge about this to let me know! With the time I had available to me, I decided to do some more reflecting and more research into what more this novel could present beyond the feminist theme.
Certainly, there’s plenty, but one I kept coming back to was political turmoil. More specifically, how political turmoil affects the citizenry. A big thing I noted was the fact that the ideas of public and private spheres were emphasized a lot in this novel. For Natalia specifically, she is expected to uphold the housework, maintaining her husband’s many doves, while also remaining sane to the public view. Natalia’s responsibility over these doves set her over her own mental health boundaries, at times contemplating suicide. And it’s more than these doves, she has to work to keep her children fed, fight mental health, etc etc etc. Yet she has to maintain a good front.
To sumamrise because I’m losing track of my own thoughts, beyond the public/private sphere, I think The Time of the Doves does a masterful job exploring the personal and the political ramifications of living within political turmoil. Additionally, it doesn’t only do an excellent exploration of mental duress because of turmoil, but also the tenacity of the resilient and enduring human spirit. Rodoreda does a beautiful job revealing the tumultuous reality that was the Spanish Civil War and portraying the real struggles people had to endure in a period of constant surveillance, authoritarianism, and violence.
And personally, I feel like this novel was what I really needed to read given the current climate of our world. Just because I am privileged enough to not be personally affected by political turmoil, that doesn’t mean I can abandon my humanity and dismiss those enduring the same (and even worse) circumstances as Natalia. It is our job to make sure their struggles do not go unheard.
Here is my question (it’s the same as the one I’ve been repeating lol): Do you think that the narrative of love between Natalia and Quimet was indeed love? Or was it dependency? Or better yet, is it something else? What the heck, what even was that?
With unconditional love always,
S
Works Cited
Miller, Gabrielle. “Institutionalized Motherhood and Maternal Practice in Mercè Rodoreda’s La Plaza Del Diamante.” Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, vol. 53, no. 3, 2019, pp. 855–78, https://doi.org/10.1353/rvs.2019.0070. Accessed 29 Mar. 2023.
Ray, Michael. “Spanish Civil War | Definition, Causes, Summary, & Facts.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 31 Jan. 2019, http://www.britannica.com/event/Spanish-Civil-War.
West Camel. “#RivetingReviews: An Authentic, Brilliant, Catalan Life: A Profile of Mercè Rodoreda by West Camel | European Literature Network.” Www.eurolitnetwork.com, European Literature Network, 20 June 2023, http://www.eurolitnetwork.com/rivetingreviews-an-authentic-brilliant-catalan-life-a-profile-of-merce-rodoreda-by-west-camel/. Accessed 27 Feb. 2024.
A Romantic Exploration ~ RMST 202 
Leave a comment