Time of the Doves

This week’s reading, Time of the Doves, I quite liked. The writing style, description, and dialogue were interesting and kept me engaged with the story. I really felt immersed in Natalia’s story; I felt her sorrow, her fear, her joy, etc. But Natalia didn’t seem to have an easy time with her first marriage. Her relationship with Quimet was manipulative and unhealthy and pretty much abusive. I mean the first time they met he refused to call her by her name and then chased her down the street. After the were married Quimet’s treatment of Natalia, or as he called her Colometa, didn’t improve. Rather it seemed he only further was aggressive and bitter with her. He would criticize her often with one example being him angry when she bought hot chocolate cups. At one point he threw her under their bed, jumping on it, without letting her get out. And this wasn’t a one time occurance; “from then on he played that joke quite often” (p.44). Quimet was an extremely jealous man and overly controlling of Natalia. He projects anger at any man who comes in close contact with Natalia like the waiter who helped her with her bloody nose.

A lot of this book is about womanhood and gender. A good example is found in this paragraph.

“I’d always been afraid of that moment. They’d
told me the path leading to it was strewn with flowers and
the one going away was strewn with tears. And that joy leads to disillusionment. Because when I was little I’d
heard people say they rip you open. And I’d always been
scared it would kill me. They said women die ripped open.
It begins when they get married. And if they’re still not
broken, the midwife finishes them off with a knife or a
piece of broken bottle. And you stay that way forever,
either ripped open or sewn up, and that’s why married
women get tired quicker when they have to stay on their
feet for a while. And when there are women standing in a
crowded streetcar, the men who know about it get up and
give them their seats and the men who don’t know about it stay seated” (p.50).

Natalia is probably referring to giving birth. The imagery is intense and graphic. She talks about how it’s been a fear of hers for a while. In this time, getting married means that without a doubt, you will also get pregnant and have children. It seems as though Natalia knows pregnancy and giving birth is no option for her now that she’s married. This all happens on her wedding night and when she tells her husband her worries, he just laughs at her.

Despite all this when Quimet died Natalia mourned for him and was saddened by his loss. Maybe this shows the complexity of love and how we can still love someone who hurt us. Then Natalia meets Antoni who seemed to treat her a lot better yet Natalia found herself thinking of Quimet. The complexity of Natalia and Quimet’s love was something that would never leave her even after remarrying.

I found myself often sympathizing with Natalia. She faced many hardships including abusive relationships, poverty, losing a loved one, etc. My question to you is did you relate or sympathize with Natalia?