Study of the work of Mercè Rodoreda, The Diamond Square

with emphasis on the themes of motherhood and loneliness. Review of the position
from national and international criticism regarding the author's work.
Mercè Rodoreda, Catalan narrative, Spanish narrative

Mercè Rodoreda began writing in her adolescence and before the Civil War...
had published in various Catalan magazines and press such as Revista de
Catalonia, Mirador, Clarismey Company, before 1939 had published four
novels. José Ortega classifies it generationally in the group of writers from
first exile who went abroad with written work (71). At the end of the Civil War,
separated for a long time from her husband, left her family and son in Barcelona and
he went into exile with Armand Obiols. Initially, they were in exile in France,
Bordeaux, and as the German troops advanced, to Limoges, where shortly after Obiols arrived.
He was deported to a concentration camp. From this time, there are the letters he
wrote to her friend and exiled writer in Mexico Anna Murià. In 1943, Rodoreda and
Obiols met again in Bordeaux. In 1953, Obiols got a job as
translator at UNESCO in Geneva and, a year later he achieved it as well
Rodoreda.

Literary influences of Mercè Rodoreda

In a letter from the author to Anna Murià dated 1946, she mentions that her
literary influences are Anglo-Saxon mentioning Katherine Mansfield, John
Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Dorothy Parker, and Katherine Anne Porter (Vosburg 417).
However, it is significant that he does not mention Joyce, one of his greatest.
influences, especially in her most famous work The Square of Diamonds (1965) (The
Diamond Square.

Her work continued in exile and did not stop until her death in 1983. Rodoreda did not return to
establish official residence in Spain until 1979. In 2003, twenty years were completed.
after the author's death, previously unpublished poems collected in her book were brought to light
Posthumous Agony of Light (The Agony of Light).

Catalan literature of the post-war period

At the end of the Civil War with the dismantling of the Generalitat and of the
cultural institutions: Orfeò Català, Institute of Catalan Studies, Library of
Catalonia, the Catalan intellectuality is forced to go into exile. The literary production
Catalan post-war differs from its contemporary Castilian in that it occurred either in
the exile or rather in a clandestine manner. These writers are the ones who initiated the change
narrative of the 20th century that broke with the romantic spirit of the 19th century driven by
the Renaixença (Catalan Modernism) and the Noucentisme (Nineteen Hundredism) where, for
on one hand, the virtues of the rural world were praised and, on the other, urban realism
linked to the Catalan industrial bourgeoisie. In the first half of the 20th century "the
the main protagonists of the narrative recovery will be the members of the
lost generation, the twenty-somethings who had barely emerged in public before
of the outbreak of the conflict" (Graells 117). The critic points out Llorenç Villalonga and Mercè
Rodoreda as main figures. It is interesting that Graells puts Villalonga in the
the same balance as Rodoreda since both writers have a thematic
completely different and focus on completely different environments.
While Villalonga takes traditional society as a reference for his works and
Mallorcan conservative, Rodoreda focuses on female characters of class.
working class or middle class with great internal conflicts where the central theme is always the
solitude

Llorenç Villalonga reconstructs a world in disappearance, the archaic and

traditionalist Mallorcan society, based on a very free observation
of the social reality of the Balearic Islands. More faithful to certain literary archetypes
that a plausible and sociological definition of this world manages to create
characters and environments whose risk lies in being taken seriously
as notes from nature, when in reality they are very elaborated myths
freely to exemplify a very conservative conception of life,
defending some traditional social and moral models. (Graells 117)

Starting from forty, the authors of the 'lost generation' become

called 'the grandes' (the elders) (Graells 118). These writers are characterized
for having grown up in Catalonia in normal conditions when they were little and in
full linguistic normalization, suddenly finding itself after 1939 with the
reverse process. This fact will make their vision change. Among them we find
Maria Aurèlia Capmany and Manuel de Pedrolo among others:

Raised in a world where Catalan was a normal fact, truncated in their

expectations in 1939, they will be the main drivers of a new

vision, from within, projected towards the recovery of the signs of
identity and, at the same time, the prospecting of new narrative horizons. Among
In 1952 and 1954, the four authors published their first narrative work.
characteristics of this group: Maria Aurèlia Capmany, Manuel de Pedrolo
Joan Perucho and Jordi Sarsanedas, and once again we find ourselves before a great
diversity of options, developed in narrative sets of
very diverse significance. (Graells 118).

While Pedrolo mainly focuses on the detective and science fiction genres,
Mª Aurèlia Capmany stands out for her leftist feminist and Catalanist activism.

In the same way, it rejects from Catalanism everything that would justify the
rights of one social class to exploit another. Its Catalanism, as
their feminism is based on the refusal of any discrimination, on the
respect and the affirmation of individual responsibility. These commitments
(Catalanist and feminist) are inseparable from a third commitment: the
literary compromise (Charlon 42) (In the same way, it rejects Catalanism
everything that would justify the rights of a social class to exploit
another. Its Catalanism, like its feminism, is based on the rejection of any
discrimination, in the respect and affirmation of individual responsibility.
These commitments (Catalanist and feminist) are inseparable from a third one.
commitment: the literary commitment.

On the other hand, Mª Aurèlia Capmany always rejected the so-called "female novel".
as Anne Charlon illustrates in her study of contemporary Catalan narrative:

An essential characteristic of the entire narrative work of M.A.

Capmany and its diversity, which expresses the permanent desire of the
author of fleeing from what is often derogatorily called the novel
feminine. (Charlon 42). (An essential characteristic of the entire work
M.A. Capmany's narrative is its diversity, which expresses the desire
 author's permanent escape from what is often called
pejoratively, "women's" novel.

From the fifties onwards, the publishing market in Barcelona resurges and normalizes.
certain cultural press, the Nova Cançó, independent theater, etc. They arise
new Catalan publishers, some Castilian include collections in Catalan and
"penetrates strongly the movement of social realism" (Graells 120). Starting from the 70s
Catalan female writers will rise again, including writers who are not only Catalan, such as
Montserrat Roig, but also Valencians like Isabel-Clara Simó and those from Mallorca
like Maria Antonia Oliver and Carme Riera.

Graells points out four characteristics for the new resurgence of Catalan literature
starting from 1968 which are: 1) The return to personal experience, 2) appearance of a
a large core of Mallorcan storytellers, 3) educational and
influences (contentious children of Francoism, self-taught), and 4) common interests
thematic and linguistic (fantasy, escape and revolt, myths of fiction, the
mass media) (122). To these proposals by Graells, others would have to be added for the
case of the narrators. While it is true that the narrators share interests
mentioned above, also have other conditions based on their gender. This
gender conditioning causes narrators like Montserrat Roig to include
the issue of gender inequality in society and even at the political level.

Critical reference framework.

The criticism immediately following the Civil War is based almost exclusively on
newspapers, magazines, book reviews and announcements of future publications (Vorburg
However, starting from the 60s, interest in Rodoreda's work grows.
particularly after the publication of The Diamond Square and its translation to
various languages. Most of the criticism that will be analyzed can be divided between the
Catalan and American criticism, especially considering ginocriticism.
North American, which focuses on critical analysis based on the concept of
gender. Kathleen Mc Nerney, Geraldine Nichols and Frances Wyers were the
first North American critiques to apply gynocriticism to Catalan female writers,
especially the work of Mercè Rodoreda.

The studies of Catalan criticism that I will address will be those of Anna Murià, Montserrat
Casals and Carme Arnau where the work of Mercè Rodoreda is analyzed from the point
from an autobiographical perspective, especially Murià who was a friend of Rodoreda and
They maintained correspondence from 1939 to 1956 while both were in exile.

a) The American critique.

American criticism is divided into two main branches; on one hand, it has in
counts narratological aspects, such as space and language. On the other hand, it
focuses on the psychoanalytic current to analyze non-narratological aspects, such
such as motherhood or gender violence. However, gynocriticism
North American overlooks the fundamental fact that the Catalan language is identity.
of the Catalan nation. In this way, as Jaume Martí aptly points out-
Olivella, what ginocriticism does is give a voice of its own to feminine writing based on the
concept of sexual gender (204)[5]. A fundamental problem of gynocriticism
North American is that it groups Catalan writers, Mercè Rodoreda and others, in
based on their sexual gender and from there establishes thematic divisions. This is the case of the study
by Geraldine Nichols on the subject, among others. The problem with these studies is that
they do not take into account the cultural and linguistic divisions in the case of Catalonia and
mix Catalan female writers whose work is written in Catalan with Catalan authors
they write in Spanish and, in the worst case, with Spanish female authors who
they write only in Spanish.

David Rosenthal, the American translator of Rodoreda's work, points out that the
the main characteristic of his work is conditioned by exile and Nazi occupation
from France, and her condition as a Catalan woman who refused to write in another language
that was not Catalan (8). Subsequently, The Diamond Square has been translated to
thirteen languages (Martí Olivella, 11)

b) European criticism

While American gynocriticism prioritizes the issue of sexual gender, the

European criticism focuses the Rodoreda analysis on the recurrence of themes, highlighting the
importance of the historical context of the moment. In the case we are dealing with, the critique
European work of Mercè Rodoreda is based on the loneliness and anguish of the
characters, not forgetting the importance that the referential framework had for the author
historical and cultural of Catalonia. Hence, most of the Rodoredians studies
Europeans have a strong autobiographical component, essential for understanding
the work and literary trajectory of the author.

The critical studies of Rodoreda's work that have an autobiographical basis.

they highlight the author's personal experiences as the foundation of her narrative, in
special of its production of stories, establishing a direct relationship between the
autobiographical fact and the literary one. An example is the very recurring topic in the work
a rosy vision of childhood where qualities of a golden age are attributed. Not
however, if we approach from a more critical standpoint we see that childhood is not
a happy age that remains a cliché symbolizing the loss of innocence
(Murià 19). Other more personal and painful experiences for the author, such as the
exile, is an inspiration for some of his stories, for example 'Orleans: 3'
"kilometers" (Orleans: 3 kilometers). Anna Murià, the Catalan poet and personal friend of
Rodoreda and exiled in Mexico, approaches Rodoreda's work from the point of view
from her friendship with her and for the correspondence they maintained during the exile from 1939 to
1956. Based on these letters, she outlines a personal and intimate vision of the author.
from the letter in which Rodoreda warns Murià that 'My life during
these years I will give it to you in pieces in various letters" (Murià 21). (My life
During these years, I will give it to you in pieces in various letters.

The analysis of the symbolism in Rodoreda's narrative almost always focuses on the
maturity process of a heroine, bildungsroman, in which there are various stages of
initiation, all of them painful. To illustrate this, the criticism generally chooses to
this purpose three works: The Diamond Square, Aloma and The Street of the
Camellias (The Street of Camellias) (Arnau 85). In all these works, the protagonist
she has an existential void, feeling abandoned in the middle of the world without a
specific function. In the three works, gardens and flowers appear, appearing the
maturity process typical of the bildungsroman. This maturity process of the
protagonists is a process experienced by the author herself: "Thus, then, Mercè
Rodoreda writes only about what she knows well, from her own experience, of a life.
of current ownership, which driven by the years and the circumstances surrounding it, grows,
"Madura I Envelleix" (Arnau 85). (Thus, Mercè Rodoreda only writes what
knows intimately, from personal experience, of an ordinary woman's life, which
driven by age and the circumstances surrounding her, she grows, matures, and ages.

Symbolism of the house and the garden in the Rodoreda's work

 To understand Rodoreda's work, symbolism is particularly important.
from the house and the garden. In Rodoreda's fictions, not much happens, but always
there is a female figure who contemplates the world around her, as has been well noted
Carme Arnau (84). Stylistically, the influence of Joyce is notable, to whom Rodoreda
I admired it, in terms of mature writing. This mature writing of the
the author is palpable when recovering a lost world for her: the Barcelona of before
the war and a specific neighborhood, that of Gràcia (Arnau 92). However, for the criticism
The death of Natàlia's mother becomes the central axis of the novel.
Neus Carbonell, for example, links the death of Natàlia's mother with the
the impossibility of Natàlia to relate to the opposite sex. For Carbonell, Mercè
Rodoreda recreates for us in The Plaza of Diamonds the myth of Adam and Eve, the serpent and the
battle of the sexes (18). Its analysis focuses on the difficulty that Natàlia has in
relating to the opposite sex (18) and their life between two metamorphoses, the first in
the Diamond Square at the dance of the main festival where she meets her future husband,
Quimet, and the second towards the end of the play when Natàlia has already freed herself from the
Quimet's memory and, in this way, he can communicate with his second and
impotent husband (19). Carbonell analyzes the importance of the death of the mother of
Natàlia, who literally left her abandoned in the world upon dying, and relates it
with Natàlia's helplessness to defend herself against Quimet's assaults (20). "The
death of the mother is a token that expresses the necessary lack of feminine tradition
and heritage in a patrilineal system" (Carbonell 20).

Solitude and motherhood

a) The theme of the dead mother.

Natàlia is alone in the world as she was orphaned of her mother when she was
small and feels helpless. This lack of referentiality is present throughout
throughout the novel, especially in the moments of pain and doubt of Natalia, that
they are the majority. In the first chapter, Natàlia already tells us that she is alone in the world and
that his mother is dead, which creates in him a feeling of anguish and pain. In the middle
from the Diamond square, Natàlia misses her: "My mother died years ago and without
to be able to advise me and my father married to another and I without a mother, who had only lived
to take care of me. And my father married and I, young and alone in the Diamond Square
(8)[7].

From the beginning of the narrative, the theme of loneliness emerges, a topic of storytelling.
Natàlia feels completely helpless, without her mother to...
We deduce that Natàlia's mother was completely focused on her.
although it has not yet been specified what relationship she had with her husband. From the
the same way Natàlia's mother is associated with union, creating an image
positive, the father is associated with rupture, creating the opposite effect, an image
negative. The presence of complementary or separating binomials is
recurrent throughout the novel.

The death of her mother brings eternal pain to Natàlia and at the beginning of the
novel is reflected in the dance. While dancing with Quimet, the elastic of the
petticoats. An immediate scene of pain and anguish is created when Natàlia
she laments that her mother cannot advise her. "The rubber band stuck in the
waist and my dead mother and unable to advise me" (9). As it continues the
dance continues to remember her dead mother: "My mother in the cemetery of San
Gervasio and I in the Diamond Square..."(10). In this case, there is a separating binomial;
while the mother is dead and buried in the upper part of the city, Natàlia is
lived in the working-class area of the Gràcia neighborhood dancing with a stranger. The ellipsis of
Natàlia indicates a rupture of thoughts that must be filled despite not having.
a lot of information.

b) Surrogate mother and single mother.

Natàlia delves into her feelings towards her mother and the distance from her father.
we are introduced to Mrs. Enriqueta. She will act as a mother not only to Natàlia but
to the children of her, Antoni and Rita. The description of Mrs. Enriqueta is positive:

Mrs. Enriqueta who lived by selling chestnuts and sweet potatoes on the corner.
from Smart in winter and peanuts and tiger nuts for the major festivals in the
summer always gave me good advice. Sitting in front of me, both
near the balcony of the gallery, from time to time he would roll up his sleeves; to
she would raise them and then, when she had them up, she would start talking again. She was tall, with
a fish mouth and an ice cream cone nose. Always in summer and winter,
She was wearing white stockings and black shoes. She was very clean. And she liked it a lot.
the coffee.

Mrs. Enriqueta gives her good advice, which replaces the advice her mother would give her.
to be alive. Mrs. Enriqueta advises her to get married and takes her shopping for the
fabric for the wedding dress. Both are maternal functions.

At the other end is Quimet's mother. The only thing we know about her
it is her excessive fondness for bows and that 'she lived in a little house towards the Journalists'
and from the gallery, the sea and the fog that sometimes covered it could be seen. She was a lady
tiny like a squirrel, styled at the hairdresser's, with many waves (20). From the father
Nothing is said about Quimet, we do not know if she is a widow or was a single mother. It is not given.
no information about him at any point in the novel.

c) Gender relations: Natàlia and Quimet.

For Natàlia, motherhood is simply a matter of gender, an imposition.

more. From the first moment she meets Quimet at the dance, he will take care of
by gradually erasing her personality. More than a battle of the sexes like
Carbonell argues that it could be interpreted as a conditioning of gender due to the
what Natàlia has to go through to reach her final maturity, bildungsroman. From this
In this way, a circular narrative is established where the heroine returns to the beginning at the end.
from the novel and that is actually fulfilled in In the Diamond Square, upon Natàlia's return
to the square at the end of the novel and shout. This return to the origins is the liberation of
Natàlia. The circular structure of the narration as a narrative strategy of Rodoreda
has also been noted by Carbonell: "Mercè Rodoreda subverts the grounds in
which phallogocentric discourse is founded. Repetitions, circular sequence, and
undermining of opposites are examples. In the novel, historical events follow a
teleological course, and both history and teleology are part of patriarchal ideology. On
the contrary, the structure follows a circular sequence" (27).

From the moment Quimet changes Natàlia's name, the story begins
transformation process of this. Quimet wants a submissive woman and as an example
from the ideal mother to her own and the mothers of the Catholic Monarchs and, to the Virgin as
ideal wife:

He told me that if I wanted to be his woman, I had to start by finding myself well.
everything he found right. ... And again the mothers of the Catholic Monarchs
and that maybe we could get married soon because I already had friends
looking for an apartment. And that he would make me some furniture that as soon as I saw them I
 I would fall backwards because he was a cabinetmaker like Saint Joseph and I was as if I
it was the Virgin (15-16).

Despite the fact that Quimet does not get along well with his mother, he is mentioned to Natàlia as how
model to imitate. The characteristics Quimet seeks in his wife are selflessness,
sacrifice and submission, the same that will later defend the Women’s Section
and the Church to try to control the female population of the post-war period,
especially the defeated. Despite everything, Quimet wants to impose his will on
Natàlia even in the most trivial detail: "She made me stand in front of a shop window.
full of clothes made, you see?, when we are married I will have you buy aprons like
those. I told him they looked like from the orphanage and he said they were like the ones he wore his
mother and I told her that I didn't care, that I didn't want to take them because they seemed like
"hospice" (20). On this occasion, Natàlia verbally rebels against Quimet, which does not
happens too often in the narration. Again, Natàlia's bewilderment
with Quimet is due to the fact that she is alone and defenseless in the world. This defenselessness
it relates to the absence of her mother, who has been dead since Natàlia was a child.

Quimet, when he starts dancing with Natàlia, nicknames her Colometa (Little Dove). "I looked at her
very uncomfortable and I told her my name was Natàlia and when I told her my name was
Natàlia laughed again and said that I could only have one name: Colometa (11). In
As for the name change from Natàlia to Colometa by Quimet, it is related to the
invasion of pigeons that this brings to the floor. The first pigeon is injured and it is Natàlia
who heals her. The only person who repeatedly opposes in the novel to
having caged doves is Cintet, at one point even letting them go free,
metaphor of injustices and premonition of civil war. In this way, with the
construction of the pigeon house Quimet is driving Natàlia out of his territory and, driven by
ambition fills it with different species. The invasion of the pigeons irritates
Natàlia although she doesn't say anything to Quimet. When Natàlia is not there, the pigeons invade.
the house since the children leave them loose. "And this is how my children had learned to
to stay still, so as not to scare the pigeons and to be able to have their company
While Natàlia continues to work as a cleaner outside the home and complains about the
pigeons, Quimet only thinks about expanding the breeding and crossing them to become famous and
enrich oneself (116). The moment of truth arrives for Natàlia when her neighbor, the
Mrs. Enriqueta opens my eyes: "Until one day Mrs. Enriqueta told me that
for every three pairs of doves, Quimet would give away two just for the pleasure of giving... and
you working like a fool" (117). Mrs. Enriqueta also accuses Natàlia of
weak character: 'Mrs. Enriqueta intervened and said that I had no character, that she
I would have dealt with it, that he would have never allowed something like this to be done.

Natàlia will make the decision to put an end to the pigeons at the same time as
the Civil War breaks out. It will be then that, from the idea inadvertently given to him by his mother-in-law,
decide to shake the eggs so that the hatchlings die. "I took a break for a while and it was
as if nothing had happened. It had to end. And instead of scaring the
doves so that they would hate the young ones, I started to pick up the eggs and shake them with
Rabia. I was hoping the chicken was already inside. That it would get its head stuffed well.
against the egg shell" (133). This act of rebellion against Quimet is the most
important of the novel, especially for being a silent rebellion. The rebellion of
Natàlia, as she herself acknowledges, coincides with the start of the Civil War. "And
while I was building the great revolution with the pigeons, what came came, which seemed
one thing that had to be very short" (137). The occupation of the apartment by the pigeons the
relates Carbonell to Natàlia's motherhood as both are imposed occupations:
Quimet's imposition on Natàlia resulted in motherhood which she experienced in the
form of estrangement and infiltration of alien forces in her body" (22).

d) Natalia's motherhood: pain and alienation.

 For Natàlia, both marriage and motherhood are painful acts.
Firstly, Natàlia does not have a maternal reference since, as it comes to us
remembering from the beginning of the novel, her mother is dead and, subsequently
gives us his vision of marriage centered on that of his parents, which is a reference point
negative too:

My mother had never talked to me about men. She and my father

Many years went by fighting and many years without saying anything to each other. They passed
Sunday afternoons sitting in the dining room without saying anything. When
my mother died, that living without words increased even more. And when to the
A few years ago, my father remarried, there was nothing at home.
that I could take.

A marriage based on breaks and silences and above all a great emptiness to
to lose one's mother and not get along with one's father's wife.

However, maternal metaphors follow one after another throughout the novel. Natàlia is
a very sensitive woman who finds beauty in everyday objects, like the jícara
of chocolate. "One day I saw some very beautiful chocolate cups and I bought six: all
"white, plump" (44). The shape of the cup, being bulging, symbolizes the womb.
maternal. Similarly, Natàlia's thoughts flow freely at first
The time I went to Quimet's woodworking workshop: "There were some very beautiful tools
and two bottles of cola, a dry cola, that fell in tears from outside the bottles and why
I touched the rod that was inside, he told me, giving me a hit on the hand, come on, come on,
"Don't get tangled!" (47). A metaphor could be established with sterility or motherhood.
frustrated. The cola cans cry because they are dry, they are sterile, and Natàlia loved them.
bring them to life by touching them with the rod even though it was an involuntary act and, on the other hand, we
she brings up the subject of her own motherhood.

Thus, motherhood for Natàlia is a painful imposition from

Quimet, who showed Natàlia the stars when he warned her that later
They were going to have a child (50). Nevertheless, a relevant aspect related to the
the death of Natàlia's mother is the detachment that Natàlia feels towards her own
maternity. It will be imposed on her and extremely painful, like relationships
sexual experiences she has with Quimet. Carbonell sees Natàlia's motherhood as a
alienation from her own body and from herself (21). Both the pregnancies and the
Natalia's deliveries are painful. Natalia feels bloated and does not enjoy the
experience. "I don't know what it looked like, round like a ball, with the feet underneath and the
"head on top" (62). Natàlia compares being pregnant to being swollen with air or
of liquid:

My hands were swelling, my ankles were swelling, and all that was left was
to have them tie a thread to my leg and throw me to fly. On the roof
surrounded by wind and blue hanging the clothes or sitting sewing, or going
here to there, it was as if they had emptied me of myself to fill me with
a very strange thing.

The pregnancy fills her with air, 'with something very strange' (63), but it does not fill her like
woman neither as a mother. During childbirth, Natàlia screams in pain and when giving birth to the child, she caresses
the crochet flower of the quilt. For Natàlia, giving birth has been an experience not
desired and painful on top of that:

I ran my hand dreamily over a flower from the crochet quilt and stretched.
the sheet. And they told me that it wasn't over, that I still had to put in the
children's house. And they didn't let me sleep, even though my eyes were closing... No
 I was able to create. I had a small and smooth chest as always and the other one full of
milk. (65).

The experience leaves her exhausted, 'like asleep' (65), and they won't let her sleep.
ellipsis marks a break in thoughts. It is interesting to note the lack of
thoughts for the newborn. From his pain and exhaustion he begins to think that no
can raise. Within the patriarchal society, the fact that Natàlia cannot raise
she sees it as a flaw. Natàlia is an incomplete mother for not having milk for her offspring,
creating a disconnection process between mother and child. This disconnection reaches the
extreme when the child Antoni does not want the bottle or anything and is about to die.
Natàlia says that her son "is fed up with living" (67) when he has just been born.

Julieta, Natalia's friend with whom she went to the dance in the Diamond Square, is going to
visit taking her two exclusive gifts for Natàlia, a silk scarf and chocolates.
Julieta came to see me and brought me a silk scarf for my neck, white with
scattered ladybugs. And a bag of chocolates. He said that people only think about
the creature and that no one remembers the mother. And he said that the child was dying, that he did not
we would worry less, because a child when they don't want to breastfeed, it's as if they already
"were dead" (67).

There are hardly any indications about the second pregnancy, only that it was worse than the first.
before and that Natàlia was about to bleed to death during childbirth. "It was a girl and she
we put Rita. I almost stayed, because the blood was coming out like a river and I didn't
could cut" (84). It is from the birth of Rita that Natàlia starts to
to work since they were hungry due to Quimet's irresponsibility and immaturity.
Quimet told me that if I wanted to start working, that was up to me, that he on his side
"I would try to get the breeding of pigeons to work" (103). Natàlia positions herself to do
tasks in the tower of some bourgeois and provides a very detailed description of it.
garden including all varieties of trees and flowers. Remember that in the work
from Rodoreda the garden is a non-aggressive space and, as very aptly has
designated Adela Robles forms a part of Natàlia's personality by fighting to
understanding oneself (129). However, the description of the housing is more
confused. "And if I talk so much about the house, it's because I still see it as a puzzle"
The only person in the entire narrative who has never changed their name is
his daughter, Rita, prototype of the new woman (Robles 139). Rita is the complete opposite of
Natàlia, being independent and knowing what she wants, ultimately ends up accepting the...
social norms of the time and marries Vicenç. With Rita's wedding, the
Natalia's maternal rearing period; Rita no longer depends on her and Toni will continue with the
Antoni's business.

End of the maternal cycle and liberation

Natàlia is left alone again after Quimet dies at the front in Aragón, and now she has
that fighting for her and her children's survival. The hunger is urgent and,
conditioned by this circumstance, he decides that Antoni will spend some time in
a colony of refugee children where her friend Julieta works. Hunger is stronger.
that maternal love and Natàlia leaves Antoni in the colony despite the opposition of
this. At the end of the war, Natàlia finds herself unable to find work, due to being the
a woman of a republican; her children and she are starving. As a result of
his inability to find work and the impotence of being able to provide
poison them with strong water to
immediately poison herself and, in this way, end her suffering:
 I just had to buy the drink. When they slept, first one and
afterward to another, I would put the funnel in their mouth and pour the aguafuerte in
inside and then I would throw it away and that way we would end and everyone would be
happy, that we had not done wrong to anyone and no one wanted us.

In fact, this moment is the most critical of the novel, when her children are
starving and Natàlia cannot save them.

The first time she went to the store to buy the aguafuerte, she didn't dare, and the second time
he regretted offering the shopkeeper a job. Subsequently, the shopkeeper, whom not
we know that he is called like his son until he goes home to work, he asks him to
to marry him fifteen months after working at his house. In this way, Natàlia ensures
the subsistence of their children not only implies material well-being but also an ascent
social. Likewise, Antonio represents a sexual liberation for Natàlia due to the
impotence of this from a war wound. Natàlia finds in Antoni what she never
she had with Quimet and, most importantly, she is sexually secure.

Thus, we have that the opposite and at the same time complement of Quimet is Antoni, the second.
Natàlia's husband. Antoni is a war veteran, which means he cannot start a
family, as he explains to Natàlia when asking her to marry him, and he is all kindness with
Natalia and her children.

The figure of Antoni is a refuge of peace and economic and sexual security for
Natalia, being powerless, does not have to fear that Antoni will force her to maintain.
sexual relations with him or getting pregnant, as Quimet did. Antoni
it represents the character's maturity and the end of Natàlia's maternal cycle, freeing her.
of their past. Thus, having completed the cycle of the initiation stages,
Natàlia returns after many years to the Diamond square and screams. This scream makes her
free from all the oppression and frustration held in for so many years.