Mercè Rodoreda, The Time of the Doves

For this week's reading, I read The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda. It was an easy read to get lost in. It felt like an emotional rollercoaster as I read the book. The past tense narrative of Natalia made it seem like she was reliving these moments, and as a reader, I felt the unprocessed anxiety and trauma.

Her husband Quimet was introduced and right from the start I could not stand him. There was a lot of toxic masculinity, and I was getting so frustrated reading the relationship between Quimet and Natalia. From the very beginning, Quimet is so possessive over Natalia, telling her that one day she will be his wife. Even giving her the nickname Colometa is an attempt to show ownership. Quimet is an insecure and manipulative man. His jealously accuses Natalia of taking a walk with her ex-boyfriend. He attempts to quit her job by grabbing her neck and shaking her head. He is shown easily threatened, and if he doesn't get enough attention or if Natalia complains about being tired, he would start complaining about his leg. He always wants attention and sympathy from others. After being sick with a tapeworm, he declared, "now we are even because [she] had the kids and he had a worm fifteen yards long" (78). In order to stop Quimet from getting angry with her, she had to realize "if I wanted to be his wife, I had to start by liking everyone he liked'' (22).

I really enjoyed reading the parts of Quimet's friend, Mateo. Throughout the novel, I was livid with all the toxic masculinity and the abusive nature of Quimet. Mateo was not afraid to show his emotions and that he was madly in love with Griselda even when Quimet and Cintent would say, "he was sick in the head because love was weakening his brain" (71). The relationship Mateo had with Natalia was genuine. Mateo knew he could go to her without being judged, and when Mateo said Quimet didn't realize how lucky he was to have a wife like Natalia, it’s sad that Quimet would never say such a thing to her.

When Natalia decided to kill her children, it was shocking, but I understood that she was helpless and could not see her children suffer anymore. She did so much to try to feed them as a mother. It would be so hard even to think such a thing or even leave your young children alone locked in a room for several hours to make a little bit of money to help. But the family was rescued in time by a kind elderly grocer, who marries Natalia and raises her children as his own. Even though Natalia left Pere for Quimet, she stayed a loyal, hardworking, empathetic mother and wife. I believe that good things happen to good people, that people like the grocer see how she had become and gave her and her children a chance to live again.

My question for the class is: Do you agree with Natalia's idea of trying to kill her children? Do you think there was another way to solve her problem?