The Time of the Doves - "Natalia"

Rodoreda's The Time of the Doves was a very interesting read. The pacing was a little bit fast at times which threw me off and got me lost sometimes but overall, I enjoyed the book. The themes I picked up from this book were love, war and family. 

Firstly, I found Quimet and Natalia's relationship a bit weird. I thought he was a red flag from the start. Maybe it was common for women to leave their current partners at the time to marry another but I still thought it was weird. Additionally, Quimet would often say things that are questionable. For instance, when they were renovating the house, "Quimet came back [and] he'd act like nothing had happened and he was sure he'd come back late" (31). Instead of helping them, he would often run off elsewhere and come back when they were done for the day. Another thing was when Quimet had a worm "and [he] said now we were even because I'd had the kids and he'd had a worm fifteen yards long" (78). I thought this was a bit strange to say. Lastly, there was an instance where Natalia's nose started bleeding at a restaurant but Quimet refused to help her clean up stating, she's "big enough to go alone" (46) and got mad when the waiter did not help her. I mean it's cool that he got mad at the waiter for not trying to help but he could have helped her himself?? Also, who is Maria??

However, her relationship with Antoni was much better. He was a green flag. Natalia was at her lowest when Antoni appeared and swept her away. He saw the worry in her face during the most difficult part of her life. He did not even ask her to do anything for her. He just wanted her to be happy and keep living. He provided for her family, got them on their feet again, sent her kids to school, and got them whatever they wanted. When Antoni called her "Natalia" I actually almost teared up. I'm not sure why but maybe it's because she was always referred to as "Colometa" her whole life because of Quimet, and seeing her get called her real name for the first time by others made me emotional. 

War is definitely a difficult time to go through and I truly empathize with Natalia. I think it was not ethical for her to think of suicide as a solution, however, I understand it was one of the options. I would like to think that she loved her family too much that she just wanted to end their suffering. Though, there is a great lesson in this story that however low you get, there will always be that light. Giving up should never be an option. Because of this, by the end of the book, Natalia and her family are living a great life. "Happy..." (201). Though, the ellipsis, like the lecture video stated, makes us wonder if there is more to her story. Is she truly happy?

Near the end of the book, Natalia keeps getting flashbacks of Quimet when he was still alive, missing him. Did Natalia also think Quimet was a red flag or was she truly in love with him? Did she realize what he was doing to her during the relationship was questionable or was she just so madly in love with him? Or was it normal back then for men to act like that?