Broken April

Chapter 3 introduces the other two main characters of Broken April, Diana and Bessian, and infuses their relationship with tension. In the first two chapters, Gjorg travels alone. Since Diana and Bessian travel together, Kadare employs more dialogue to show the dynamics of their relationship. Bessian’s statements often become longwinded, appearing as larger paragraphs across the page. Diana’s responses are never as long. Bessian comes across as egotistical and showy, while Diana chooses to be selective with her words. Their interactions and observations of each other are likewise telling. When Bessian puts his arm on Diana in the carriage, she feels, “His hand had never felt so heavy to her” (79), foreshadowing a growing tension between the two. The next day, Bessian finds he can’t tell what’s on Diana’s mind. He reassures himself that everything will be fine, but when he looks at Diana again, “[Her] handsome features offered him no reassurance” (92). Despite Bessian’s confidence, hidden underneath is doubt and worry, foreshadowing the drama to come.

Gjorg’s chapters started off with quick and dramatic action and showed his character mulling over the consequences. Chapter 3, conversely, slowly builds up the tension between Diana and Bessian, allowing the storylines to feel distinct from one another. However, the plotlines avoid becoming too disparate from one another. Diana’s lingering thoughts of Gjorg keep their stories intertwined. At the end of Chapter 3, Diana wonders, “Would she ever meet him again? And there, by the window, her forehead icy from the frozen pane, she felt she would give anything to see him again” (126). Her longing keeps her story connected to Gjorg’s and adds additional tension to her marriage.

Bessian and Diana interact with Gjorg only briefly, but their stories comment on the same themes and utilize the same tone. Upon seeing the black ribbons that mark men waiting to die or to be killed, Diana says the practice is horrible. Gjorg accepts the black ribbons as part of the rules, but Diana’s perspective introduces a more critical opinion about the traditions of the High Plateau. Additionally, Bessian introduces notions of class and wealth not previously seen. He’s struck by the smoothness of the carriage travelling up the mountain. He credits the velvet upholstery and thinks, “Perhaps that was why it rolled along on that rather poor mountain road much more easily than one would have expected” (61). Gjorg never thinks of his homeland as poor. Bessian’s city-dweller perspective depicts a classist view and establishes Bessian as a person more focused on material wealth and niceties.

Tonally, darkness is used for dramatic effect in Chapter 3. Trying to fall asleep in the kulla, Diana meditates on her environment: “In the depressing darkness of the room, that shred of dawn was like a message of salvation. Diana felt its soothing effect freeing her swiftly from her terrors” (90). Darkness enhanced the drama of Gjorg’s story, and darkness spreads fear through Diana here. When they reach Orosh, Bessian comments on the cold: “‘This has been a long winter,’ Bessian said. ‘It simply refuses to yield its place to spring’” (113). The prolonged winter adds to the drama and becomes a motif throughout the novel. The storylines are largely separate, but the repeated use of the dark and cold helps connect them and makes them feel part of the same world. With new perspectives, Kadare doesn’t stray away from the themes and tones established earlier but enhances them and allows them to become more nuanced.

Chapter 3 doesn’t merely retread the same themes. Diana’s character gives Kadare the means to comment on women’s position in Albanian society. Early on in their trip, Diana remembers when their honeymoon was announced in a small section of a newspaper: “Sensation: The writer, Bessian Vorpsi, and his young bride are spending their honeymoon on the Northern Plateau!” (62). Diana isn’t mentioned by name because her husband is held in higher regard, even in the modern city. On the High Plateau, men are taken aback by Diana’s beauty and objectify her. At the inn, Diana sees one of Ali Binak’s associates unabashedly gaze at her: “The third man, wearing a checkered jacket, could not keep his eyes off Diana. He was obviously drunk” (95). Nearly everywhere she goes, Diana contends with the challenges of being a woman, providing the building blocks for Kadare to make a statement on the treatment of women in society.