An unusual incident - the ceiling collapse above the head

An unusual incident

A most unusual incident took place recently at the Times House grand hall. It was on the occasion of our thirty-fourth anniversary and we had invited a guest speaker from the Times House advisory committee to present to speech.

It was 2.30 p.m. and the huge crowd was already waiting at the huge, old and yet reputable hall. Outside, it was drizzling and this caused some uneasiness among the organizers as they have planned to have the reception out in the front lawn.

The speaker arrived on stage at 2.45 p.m. He began his speech promptly. The rain got heavier and dark, a damp patch appeared on the ceiling directly above the speaker who was then engrossed in his speech. Tiny drops of water began to fall from the patch on the ceiling. The speaker pretended to ignore this but he could not do this for long as the sudden downpour outside caused water to really fall down from the ceiling.

The speaker was drenched from head to toe. A few of the organizers rushed up onto the stage. There was confusion on the stage as people tried to persuade the speaker to come down. Before he could do so, the ceiling collapsed directly above him. The unfortunate speaker was hurt very badly and was given first aid treatment on the spot. Panic in the hall continued as the speaker was taken away.

While the commotion was continuing, a voice announced over the public address system that the meeting which was scheduled after the reception was to be cancelled.

The relevant authorities are now still in the midst of their investigations of this seemingly deliberate “accident”. Police are still waiting for more information.

Labels: Ceiling collapse, Injury from a ceiling collapse, The speaker was injured, The ceiling fall down

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An unnecessary accident

An unnecessary accident

My friend, John and I were walking through the school grounds, near the outer fence at 09.30. Suddenly, I spotted an object which looked rather like a colored rope. The object moved when we got nearer to it.

Convinced that it was a snake, John insisted that we should move away from the place. However, I wanted very much to report of our find, but John feared that we might be punished for being at a place where shouldn’t be found and what was more, when it was during school hours.

The thought of somebody’s being killed by the snake or a possible reward if the snake had escaped from the zoo made me insist on reporting it. I suggested that we should take it to the police station but John disagreed saying that the police station was too far and that we would miss our subsequent classes.

I then suggested that we hand the snake in to the gardener as his assistant knew a lot about snakes. John agreed to this suggestion and John grabbed an old bucket with a mat which he had found, to prevent the snake from getting out.

We walked towards the gardener’s house but unfortunately he spotted us first, with the bucket and the mat in between us. Thinking that we had stolen these things from his house, he shouted angrily at us. We tried to deny his accusations and warned him of the poisonous reptile in the bucket. He refused to believe in what we say and so he grabbed the bucket from our trembling hands.

Before we could do anything, the much-provoked reptile thrust its head out and bit the gardener. He screamed in pain and released the bucket and I saw the terrible attacker glide swiftly into the long grass by the gate. His cries brought his wife to the scene and we asked her to hurry and call for a doctor.

While John stayed with the unconscious victim, I rushed to the office to inform the police but no one was in. I left a message with the clerk and returned to the tragic scene.

I realized that we could have avoided the mishap if we had reported about the snake immediately. We regret that this happened and we take this opportunity to express our sincere apologies.

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The national day parade

The national day parade

I could hear the fast beating of my heart as I put on the knee-high boots which distinguished me from the other members of my group. As the drum majorette of my school’s brass-band, I felt responsible for the success of our performance in the National Day Parade which is going to begin in ten minutes’ time.

As the huge clock at the Town Hall struck three o’clock in the afternoon of the ninth day of August, we were commanded to take our positions at the Padang. Our Prime Minister arrived followed by the President in his stately Rolls Royce. They took their positions at the grandstand and the National Anthem was sung.

A pompous display of colors pervaded the Padang. Then the march-past in the earnest began. One by one the contingents represented groups of government servants from various departments. Then came the others such as the groups representing the Post Office Savings Banks, the nurses, the flight stewardess from Singapore Airlines, student teachers from Institute of Education and many more.

After these, I eyed a few groups of cadets in green. They marched smartly and in perfect co-ordination. They were the few selected groups of National Cadet Corps members who had won the interschool competitions. Following them were three groups of National Police Cadet Corps members, the Girl Guides in their pleasant blue and the Red Cross and St. Johns in white.

My heart beat even faster as I clenched my mace. The Buona Vista combined band group was already half way through their performance. They were loudly applauded; and then a moment of suspense, as I gave the command for my group to move forward to the performing ground. We made three formations and we were applauded by our schoolmates who were sitting together visibly in their dark green uniform. Then came my final performance. I threw my mace high into the air, positioned myself to a half kneel and caught my staff majestically. The round of applause I received was tremendous. After that, we formed our marching rows again and moved on in the procession.

We had to march for another two kilometers to the dispersal area. As we marched, we could sense thousands of pairs of eyes looking at us, observing and admiring. I was elated and pleased with the performance that did us credit. I felt rightly proud for having availed myself of the opportunity to represent my school in our country’s most auspicious occasion. I knew that my parents watching the procession over the television must have felt the same way too.

We reached the dispersal ground at exactly five thirty in the afternoon. We waited for the other contingents to arrive. The beautifully colored floats came in last. We were told that this year’s procession had been a real success as hardly anybody could sense any flaw. After our refreshments, we went home, feeling proud and happy, not to mention, extremely exhausted.

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An evening in a luxurious boat

An evening in a luxurious boat

A journey by boat is a pleasant experience, but think of a journey in the most luxurious boat. I had a chance to enjoy such an experience.

My father and his friends decided to go on a cruise with the family. They collected some money between them. The company also paid a share and they booked an evening in the luxury boat named Sealiner. A cruise covering a round trip of Singapore with a dinner and dance was arranged.

The invitation allowed for five members of each family. The boat was to leave around 5 p.m. sharp so we were asked to be at the pier before 4 p.m. Entrance was by invitation only. People started gathering at the quay around 4 p.m. One by one, we were allowed inside the boat. Before boarding we were asked to take a lucky number.

The boat left the quay exactly at 5 p.m. Light music was played and the guests were asked to help themselves with the drinks. The boat sailed along the coast and we could see Pulau Piani, Sentosa and even Johore from the boat. Dance started at around 6 p.m. and the youngsters danced to their heart’s content. At about 7:30 p.m., the boat anchored in mid sea, and everyone was asked to come to the top deck for a buffet dinner. There were more than ten types of delicious food.

When the dinner was over, the boat started to sail again. In the meantime, the lucky numbers were drawn. I won a prize of a hi-fi stereo cassette recorder for my lucky number 12. It was the third prize. The boat arrived at the starting point around 9 p.m. and we went home very happy.

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An excursion to nearby islands

An excursion to nearby islands

Excursions are a part of education. One day we had a pleasant surprise when our teacher told us that we are going on an excursion to the nearby islands around Singapore. The coming Sunday was chosen and we were asked to be at school around 6:30 a.m. We were very happy and waited eagerly for the day. In the meantime we planned the program for the trip.

On that day everyone was present as nearly as 6 o’clock. A bus had been arranged to take us to the World Trade Center pier to take the launch of the islands. There was a big crowd of holiday makers buying tickets. But our tickets had been arranged and one launch had already been reserved for us. We all rushed in. My friends and I took seats so that we can have a better view. My teachers cautioned us about the danger of leaning on the boat’s rail and looking over the sea. The boat left the pier around 8 a.m. and we enjoyed scenes of huge ships anchored at the harbor and some big tankers in the deep seas.

The boat moved faster into the sea where it was rough. The boat started swinging from side to side. The early morning breeze was so cool and very soon the boat berthed at Kusu island, which is known for its Chinese temple. We then had our breakfast and snacks and we wasted no time to explore the beach.

We left the island in an hour’s time and our next stop was St. Johns islands. The sea was clear crystal blue and even at that time we saw many swimmers and some were resting under the tree. Some holiday makers were watching us play and some were irritated by our mischief. We finished our lunch there and our next stops were Pulau Pinane, Sentosa and other islands. Our boat merely passed by the island and we were not allowed to disembark as time was running short.

We returned to the World Trade Center pier around 5 p.m., and quickly the bus took us home.

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American Sense and Sensibility: Let's Be Realist

American Sense and Sensibility: Let's Be Realist
Author: Ms. Annmicha Blugh

In Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility (1811), the two female protagonists, Elinor and Marianne, epitomize these respective principles – sense and sensibility. American Realism spans 1865-1910. During this time period, realist writers synchronize in views, objecting to sentimentality and protesting for more texts exemplifying realism. American realist novels, such as House Behind the Cedars (1900), Washington Square (1880), The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885), and Ethan Frome (1911) satirize sentimentality, as represented in sentimental fiction, and applaud sensible characters with a firm grip on reality. In American realist literature, the characters who live on the basis of sense comprehend their circumstances and follow good judgment; whereas the characters who live on the basis of sensibility resort to emotionalism and impassioned decision-making. In the realist novel, characters demonstrating sentimentality are incongruous because they apply elements of the sentimental novel in everyday life. They are guided by imagination, impulse, and overpowering emotion. As one explores American local colorist and realist literature, one observes objection against sentimentality, through satire, imitation, and open criticism; thus, confirming contempt for traditional feminine sentimentality.
The reason why these realist works are so stridently against sentimentality is because the realist focus appreciates the representation of the truth in life and everyday existence. The realist style of writing, called verisimilitude, preserves accuracy in the narrative account for sentiments and the romantic often eclipse clarity. Realism offers no embellishment, therefore realist authors oppose the views of sentimental sensibilities. In the sentimental fiction era, "ladies poisoned their minds with novels and the amorous follies of romances" (Brown 5). Thus, a negative construction is placed on sentimentality, gendered feminine, in American realist novels.

In sentimental fiction, sentimental female protagonists typically act irrationally. The pairing of sentimentality and the woman dates back to Greco-roman times, where hysteria is a once common medical condition peculiar to women. Women would demonstrate emotive symptoms such as fainting, irritability, spasms, high excitability, and nervousness. In the Victorian Era, hysteria was a popular diagnosis. Indeed, the etymology of hysteria is self explanatory since it derives from the Latin hystericus which means "of the womb" (Encyclopaedia Brittanica). Realism satirizes hysteria because both hysterical characters because hysteria clouds judgment and incapacitates calculated action. Hysteria also shifts the character flaw from the individual and imputes it to a sickness, rather than a consequence springing from sentimental folly. "Humans control their destinies; characters act on their environment rather than simply reacting to it" (Penrose). The human agent is responsible for making informed decisions; therefore in the realist world, sentimental hysterics are caricatured and satirized.

Realism's discord with sentimentality is evidenced in Washington Square, where the sentimental female protagonist is caricatured in Mrs. Penniman. She is so sentimental that reason is most times completely eclipsed. Mrs. Penniman suggests that her niece, Catherine, "should stay in bed for three days" (James 144) after a bitter argument with her father about her love relationship with Mr. Townsend, her beau. Catherine finds her suggestion ridiculous and does not follow her advice. Her ideas are usually unreasonable and no one respects her judgment. Mr. Townsend finds in Mrs. Penniman a ready agent to do his bidding. As a consequence, enraptured by his charm, and deluded by romantic accounts of the sentimental fiction texts she reads, Mrs. Penniman endangers Catherine, by her emotional excesses and romantic imagination. After a while, penetrating into her true sentimental nature, even Mr. Townsend begins to despise Mrs. Penniman. Catherine rebuffs most of her advice. She is "romantic,..sentimental…and had secrets as unpractical as addled eggs" (James 11). Mrs. Penniman's sentimentality causes her to resort to fixed images in her mind which spring from the sentimental novels she reads. Worse than a passionate adolescent, Mrs. Penniman intervenes in Catherine's love affair with Mr. Townsend and imagines herself as the central character in a web of love. In the end, she is unsuccessful in promoting the love relationship and by her heavy sentimentality only manages to ruin her credibility. According to Dr. Sloper, her brother, Mrs. Penniman is totally "unfamiliar with the alphabet of common sense" (James 90). This derisive, acoustic judgment proceeds from his realistic sense. Dr. Sloper's pointed disharmony with Mrs. Penniman reveals the disparity between realism and sentimentality. "Dr. Sloper speaks to his sentimental sister, Mrs. Penniman, assaulting her with his sarcasm" (Habegger 43). Dr. Sloper's realist view and his intolerance for sentimentality, cause the reader to classify Mrs. Penniman as a character worthy of ridicule. As Mrs. Penniman ages toward the end of the novel, her clothes are gaudier, brighter, and more flamboyant. Mrs. Penniman's risible exterior appearance underscores incongruity with her realist setting, thus confirming the satiric realist view of her female sentimentality.

In The Rise of Silas Lapham, William Dean Howells' realist view objects to sentimental fiction employing satire. At a dinner where the characters discuss literature, Miss Kingsbury condemns "the (sentimental) novel that was making such a sensation ... perfectly heart-breaking; (with) a dear old-fashioned hero and heroine in it, who keep dying for each other all the way through" (Howells 197). As rightly expressed by Ms. Kingbury, mawkish sentimentality carry out no purpose, and her opinion emphasizes the realist's scorn for overwrought sensibilities. In reality, "Tears, Idle Tears" is a sentimental poem written by Alfred Lord Tennyson, a British Romantic poet. In Tennyson's era, most sentimental poets center on sentimentalism as a means of ennobling the soul and evoking human compassion. Moreover, realism's antagonism against sentimentality is evidenced in Nanny's reaction to "Tears, Idle Tears". Nanny mocks sentimental work, asserting that "it should have been called Silly Silly Slop" (Howells 197). This derogatory title further satirizes sentimentality and gives the realist view on the sentimental fiction. She calls the sentimental novel a silly, mindless, and nonsensical text, while slop describes its maudlin content.

Although The Rise of Silas Lapham is a realist novel, there is a sentimental plot enshrined, where William Dean Howells uses character flaws and irony to express objection to the sentimental novel. Using the plot of "Tears, Idle Tears," a sentimental novel, Howells imitates the sentimental female protagonist, through Penelope, who surrenders her lover to the lady who loved him first, betraying her own feelings, and hurting her lover as a consequence. At first, Penelope condemns the protagonist's action as "silly, wicked, and unreasonable" (Howells 217), yet in the love triangle involving herself, Mr. Corey, and Irene, she gives up Mr. Corey (the man she truly loves) for Irene's sake. Howells speaks through realistic characters to criticize Penelope's sentimental actions. Mr. Corey reproves Penelope's actions, calling them "foolish and wicked" (Howells 257). Also, the minister, Mr. Sewell criticizes Penelope's decision which is founded upon a "false ideal (coming from) the novels that befool and debauch almost every intelligence" (Howells 196). From the mouths of these men proceed rebukes against sentimental novels and sentimentality. Sentimentality is considered feminine and men help in disabusing the public's mind from sentimental illusion, especially since the prevailing school of thought holds that men have greater sense of reason between the sexes. The sentimental novel is blamed for wreaking havoc on relationships, where idealist concepts are transferred from the unreal, literary world to reality.

In House Behind the Cedars, Charles Chesnutt projects his realist view, affecting his characters with emotional excesses, that sentimentality works only to the detriment of sentimental characters. Although House Behind the Cedars is a local color fiction, the realist and local-colorist schools concur on the accurate representation of reality. Rena, the protagonist, passes for white in a local village and for some time, the deception is successful. However, when the truth is revealed and Mr. Tryon, her white suitor, uncovers her racial background, Rena swoons on the pavement, afflicted with illness for days. Mr. Tryon too has a fixed mental image of what a sentimental jilted woman ought to be: "a pale girl, with sorrowful, tear-stained eyes, pining away … for love of him, dying, perhaps, of a broken heart" (Chesnutt 190). Both these sentimental examples are inherent in the consummate damsel in distress. Because of these emotional excesses, the realist despises the sentimental individual because she does not demonstrate real life representation. The sentimental protagonist is either the object of love or the victim of betrayal. "The heroine of sensibility, then, only plays out the instinctual nature of her sex, fostering the cult of female victimization" (Dobson 507). These sentimental female personas cannot survive when faced with adversity because they wallow in anguish. On one hand, in the sentimental novel, the romantic's goal is to touch a chord of commiseration for the tragic character's plight and awaken humanity; on the other hand, the realist mocks such unrealistic behavior. Mr. Tryon's sentimental imagination closely reflects Mrs. Penniman's mental ability to evoke and live out sentimental dreams. Passionate love to the point of sickness is a typical trait of sentimentality. For such illusions, some sentimental characters in the realist novels almost pay with their lives.

In Ethan Frome, another realist text, the reader catches another glimpse of female sensibility, where the lovers almost literally die for love. Mattie, Ethan's illicit paramour, proposes that she and Ethan commit suicide by crashing the carriage into an elm tree. The couple has endured sexual tension, and seeing that their desires can never be legitimately fulfilled, Mattie suggests suicide (crashing their sled into an elm tree) as the only solution. Mattie's sentimental spontaneity is damaging. The elm tree signifies death, seeing that it traditionally served as raw material to construct coffins and gravestones. Consequently, the death metaphor here is confirmed as the main objective. Mattie complains that she has no one to love, that no one loves her, and that she is homeless – for her life is barren. Dying for love is an action which a sentimental, romantic protagonist would perform. Wharton makes Shakespearean parallel to Ethan's and Mattie's attempted suicide and punishes their passionate sentimentality, allowing them to live and suffer. Mattie's sentimental spontaneity is featured in characters who long for love such that they cannot live without it, imitating Romeo and Juliet. In Shakespeare's tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, sentimentality has mortal consequences, where both lovers die because of sentimental illusions and misunderstandings. "There is nothing at all probable in the events which culminate in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet; indeed, improbability – 'misadventured piteous overthrows' is exactly what Shakespeare invites us to consider" (Doody 200). Love induces death in this tragicomedy, where lovers choose to die instead of living apart. Illusion and realism war against each other within realist characters, where sentimentality sometimes beclouds and influences their judgments. Without contemplating bodily ravages, the sentimental characters uncontrollably pour out their feelings and seal their own mortal fate.

Often, sentimental characters unrealistically live in the world of the books they read. As previously established, sentimentality is a weak feminine trait. In House Behind the Cedars, Judge Straight condemns his own sentimentality when he confesses that "in a moment of sentimental weakness and of quixotic loyalty" (Chesnutt 79), he helps John, his friend's son, pass for white. The reason why Judge Straight criticizes himself is because he sees that it is unrealistic to try to change an individual's nature in a prejudiced land, where laws discriminate between Blacks and Whites. The real truth has to be revealed sooner or later, however, Judge Straight feels himself bound to friendship with a deceased man, playing a game of illusion. The harsh reality is that Judge Straight's friend is a dissolute man who neglected his family. The woman is often referred to as the "weaker sex"; therefore, one sees the connections between sentimentality, weakness and the female sex. Moreover, Judge Straight genders sentimentality as feminine in placing a label of weakness. He parallels sentimental weakness with Don Quixote, an absurd, chivalrous knight who has illusions which make him comical and bizarre. The knightly novels which Don Quixote reads absorb and influence him to such a degree, that he fantasizes doing heroic exploits, visualizes non-existent objects, and romanticizes events. "Don Quixote labors under illusions and enchantments … which he cannot rationalize" (Wilkie 206). Don Quixote is the paragon of illusion. He represents the ridiculous because of he is unable to perceive and live in reality. In the same way, the sentimental novel compares sentimentality as quixotic. It glosses events and gilds characters. This example further ridicules sentimentality, casting aspersions on the sentimental novel.

In sum, realism opposes sentimentality in all its forms: published in novels and applied in daily life. Realism advocates an unexaggerated, ungilded portrait of characters and events because of the tendency to go to extremes. The realist era reacts against romanticism which sentimentally idealizes life. Absurd characters, imitation, proverbial wisdom, and caustic reprimands work to undermining sentimentality. Realism and sentimentality are irreconcilable because the characters "of sensibility, energetically courted emotions that then took over, got out of control, and were therefore attributable to the workings of destiny" (Tanner 134). Realism advocates man's ability to rise above his feelings and circumstances and choose, change, and progress.


Works Cited:
Brown, Herbert Ross. "The Sentimental Novel in America 1789-1860". Duke University Press.
11/26/2008 .
Chesnutt, Charles. The House Behind the Cedars. New York: The Penguin Group, 1993. Dobson, Joanne. Reclaiming Sentimental Literature. American Literature, Vol. 69, No. 2, June
1997, Duke University Press. 507.
Doddy, Terrence . "Don Quixote, Ulysses, and the Idea of Realism". Novel Corp., Brown
University. 12/01/2008 .
Encyclopedia > Hysteria". Nationmaster.com . 12/01/2008
.
Habegger, Alfred. Gender, Fantasy, and Realism in American Literature. New York, NY:
Columbia U P, 1984. 43.
Howells, William Dean. The Rise of Silas Lapham. New York: The Penguin Group, 1986.
James, Henry. Washington Square. New York: The Modern Library, 2002.
Penrose, Patricia. "American Realism." American Collection Educators' Site. 11/25/2008
.
Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. New York: Signet, 2000. 11/26/2008
Tanner, Michael. Sentimentality. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series, Vol. 77.
Blackwell Publishing. 134.
Wilkie, Brian . "What is Sentimentality". National Council of Teachers of English. 12/01/2008
. 206.

The Masculism of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” and the Feminism of “The Time of Doves”

The Masculism of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” and the Feminism of “The Time of Doves”.
Author: Ms. Annmicha Blugh

Masculism is a school of thought which has a prepossession with the female as a sex object, believes in the superiority of the male, and the subjection of the female. One may argue that because “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” was authored by Milan Kundera, a man who had male chauvinist sympathies. On the other hand, Feminism stood for the liberation of the woman from male control, the validation of her personhood, and the de-glamourization of femininity and motherhood. Merce Rodoreda in her novel “The Time of Doves” is an argument for feminism as she intersperses messages which convey feminist ideals. Hence both novels show the polarization of masculism and feminism in the perpetual battle of the sexes and touch on gender roles in European society.

The Masculism of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” is manifest in three components: the objectification of the woman, the subjectivity of the woman, and authoritarian control of the male. Objectification of the woman arises in many instances in the novel, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” through several mentions of the pornography industry, private male fantasies, and the sexual relationships among the protagonists. Women are often depicted naked while the male’s eye fixates on them. They become objects of desire and sex toys instead of being validated as individuals with penetration of thought, and independent minds. Tereza submits some nude photographs of herself to a magazine which portrays scantily clad or naked women, Tereza’s mother constantly flaunts her nude body in the house, Tereza’s nightmare of naked women, singing and marching around a pool before a man resurges repeatedly (18). She has other nightmares which haunt her memory of dead, female, naked bodies in a pool and in the trunk of a hearse. Tereza also fantasizes having sex with her husband, Tomas, in front of the cameras in a studio. Her rival, Sabina, parades her naked body before Tomas to seduce him at her home. As a waitress, a stereotypical female job with sexual desire and objectification, Tereza “had an irresistible desire to expose her body” (142). Women corporate with men in fulfilling sexual desire and they delight to cater to their every whim and fancy.

The subjectivity of the woman is her preferred role in the novel since she is at the beck and call of the male. Tereza has a nightmare of Tomas giving orders to women to sing and walk around a pool (18) while Sabina and Tereza are joined by Tomas’ command “Strip!” (66). Tereza loves Tomas so much that “she was constitutionally unable to disobey Tomas” (147). Kundera says that “in the love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by man’s body” (5), thus in the sex act she is subject. In the relationship with his wife, Tereza, Tomas would “issue a command, softly yet firmly and authoritatively” (66). Before the man, woman has no will of her own. She is deprived of an opinion contrary to her male partner. The tradition of paterfamilias is a Greco-Roman tradition which dictated that the woman always belonged to a male member. In childhood and youth, the girl belongs to her father and in adulthood the authoritative right is transferred to her husband. There is a reflection of paterfamilias in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” where Tomas envisions his relationship with his wife, Tereza, “as a child whom he had taken from a bulrush basket” (7). He sees himself as a father-rescuer who saves Tereza. The father-daughter metaphor is rightly suited to the relation ship that Tomas and Tereza share for he commands and she obeys, he leads and she follows. Also, in his extramarital relationships with his mistresses, he subjects them to “the rule of threes in the erotic friendship” (12). Tomas again lays down the rules where maximum benefit redounds to him and the women are controlled by his desires. Sabina is conscious of this paternal restriction in her own life and she rebels against the whole patriarchal system by being promiscuous and willful. There is a “longing to betray her father…a father equally strict and limited, a father who forbade her love” (91).

The Feminism of “The Time of the Doves” by Merce Rodoreda is subtle since the events unfold in pre-Civil War Spain; however there are embedded feminist messages of female independence, and the duality of motherhood. The novel traces the journey of an imprisoned, passive woman to one who relishes her new freedom and also paints some portraits of some independent women. First of all Rita was a powerless, subdued woman who is not sure of her own self. Despite numerous putdowns from her domineering husband, she continues to do her duty to her family in supporting them as faithful wife and mother. Quimet persists in calling Natalia a false name, Colometa – a name which both imprisons and transforms her to a humanized dove. Hence, Rodoreda splits the woman in two personalities – her true identity, Natalia, which liberates and to a certain extent deifies her, Natalia, and the other which ties her to her husband. Nathalie means Christ’s birthday, gift of God, or born on Christmas (the male Hebrew version is Nathaniel). One knows that Christmas is celebrated as the day the Saviour of the world, the Christ child is born hence Natalia liberates, delivers, rescues. Other variations of the same name are Natalia, Nathalie, and Natalie. One may look at the two identities, from an psycho-aesthetic, spiritual, and maternal angle. The expulsion of Colometa from Natalia’s being is represented artistically as a cathartic purgation. With a knife, Natalia engraves the name given by her husband upon the doors of the home she shared with Quimet. She “carved ‘Colometa’ on it in big, deep letters.” (197). Only after Natalia writes down the name, Colometa on the door frame of her old home does she begin to eject the foreign body, Colometa, from inside of her.

“I let out a hellish scream, a scream I must have been carrying around inside me for many years, so thick was hard for it to get through my throat, and with that scream a little bit of nothing trickled out of my mouth, like a cockroach made of spit…and that bit of nothing that had lived so long trapped inside me was my youth and it flew off with a scream of I don’t know what…letting go?” (197).

In the spiritual light, one can view Natalie’s abandonment of the identity of Colometa as an exorcism: not until Natalia exorcizes the spirit of Colometa that she begins to experience true freedom. Also, since the main theme of the book is motherhood, Natalia is demonstrated as giving a perverse birth where she expels Colometa from her body.

Female liberation is seen through the characters of Rita and Senyora Enriqueta. They are stubborn and do not allow males to control them. As Natalia complains of her domestic woes and Quimet’s behaviour to Senyora Enriqueta, she says that she “would have put an end to it by now and she’d never let anyone do something like that to her” (101). In Spanish society, rebellion against one’s husband was a rarity. Rita demonstrates great reluctance to get married and her courtship was “like a war” (184). Rita struggles between two decisions: being independent of a family and following her dream career or being under the charge of her husband at home but she continues to put up resistance: “she told him that she didn’t want to get married, she wanted to travel and she had other things to worry about” (182).

What Rodoreda masters in this novel is her portrayal of the darker side of maternity. Motherhood is not only roses and honey, laughing children and smiling husband – it could be rough. Because of overwork and self-neglect, Natalia begins to get sick:

“I couldn’t tell her I had no one to complain to, that it was my own private sickness and if I ever complained at home Quimet would start telling me his leg hurt. I couldn’t tell her my children were like wildflowers no one took care of and my apartment which used to be a heaven, had turned into a hell.” (101).

This passage captures very well the trials of motherhood. At home, she gets stressed out to such a level that she begins to lapse into careless inconsideration for family when she says, “the hell with them!” (113). Natalia begins to destroy the doves’ eggs and in the future she begins to contemplate murdering her own young. This depression resembles very closely an illness peculiar to mothers called post partum depression. Natalia’s infanticide is the climax of the novel where the accumulation of domestic pressure tempts her to end her own life and the life of her children. The demands of work outside of the home also cause Natalia to forget her children and she ceases to play that nurturing role which is so associated with motherhood. What Rodoreda does is paint the realities of the life of the average mother and takes the glamour from domesticity. Natalie is only one unhappy mother among many others.

To conclude, Masculism and Feminism occupy diametrically opposite poles and are both represented in Kundera’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” and Rodoreda’s “The Time of the Doves” respectively. According to the novels, masculist ideals include patriarchy, female objectification, woman’s submission, and male control while feminist concepts encompass female independence, male resistance and the real representation of womanhood and motherhood.