Broken April

Kadare utilizes darkness to give the story a foreboding tone. Many scenes involve characters traveling at the turning point between day and night. The opening of the novel finds Gjorg shooting Zef at dusk, and he makes it home just before night takes hold. Although he reaches home safely, he is now in a darker world, a broken world—he is now marked for death. When Gjorg’s long bessa ends, the darkness further ensnares him: “Now he was a man stained with blood, and he could travel only by night and never on the main roads” (204). By the end, Gjorg must live entirely in darkness. This darkness intensifies the conclusion of the novel and places additional emphasis on the bleak state Gjorg is in at the conclusion of the story. 

Darkness is employed in Bessian and Diana’s storyline as well. In Chapter 3, Bessian and Diana reach Orosh as the day ends. They have a nice room, but the darkness and the chill of the night rob the scene of comfort. Diana looks out the window and sees, “Beyond the glass was anguish and night” (126), a line that further associates darkness with negativity and pain. Like Gjorg, Bessian and Diana move into darkness, ending up scared and weaker because of it. This visual motif proves to be appropriate for Bessian and Diana’s story; as the novel progress, their marriage deteriorates, plunging deeper and deeper into darkness. For all the characters, darkness encroaches on them endlessly, painting a dramatic tone and symbolizing the characters’ demises.

Broken April takes place during a noticeably long winter that is referenced throughout the novel. In Chapter 2, Gjorg speaks to an innkeeper. The two remark, “‘This winter’s dragging on.’ ‘Yes, that’s true. It’s been a long one’” (58). Gjorg finds himself in a dramatic new phase of his life, given 30 days to enjoy being a free man. The prolonged winter emphasizes that this April is unlike any before it. It is colder for Gjorg because it is scarred with murder and his impending death. In Chapter 5, Gjorg makes an additional observation: “April had come in, but spring was hardly in possession of things” (161). The arrival of spring suggests life, but that is less and less of a possibility for Gjorg as his long bessa nears expiration. Instead, winter, and death, stay with him. With Gjorg’s story, Kadare’s use of a prolonged winter represents a dark change in Gjorg’s life, further impeding him from escaping death.

Diana suffers from the prolonged winter too. When Diana and Bessian stop to stay at an inn, she states “‘Brr, it’s cold” (85). Later, in Orosh, she feels an even greater chill, exclaiming, “Brr! I’m freezing” (124). The High Plateau continues to be a harsh place for her. The longer she stays there, the colder she feels. The cold also plays into Diana and Bessian’s marital problems. In Chapter 6, Bessian makes physical advances. When Diana resists, she says “It’s too cold. Besides, I have to have a bath” (181). Again, Kadare utilizes the exterior world to enhance the conflicts at play while also building up the tone and mood.

Broken April gives the natural world agency and power. Gjorg kills Zef and notes, “Around him patches of snow were still there, scattered witnesses” (10). No other person is near Gjorg, but Kadare describes the world as watching him. This artistic choice adds tension and drama to the scene. Even alone, Gjorg is being watched. Journeying home, Gjorg notes, “The bells of the cattle returning to the village of Brezftoht, the bell tolling vespers, and all the other sounds of nightfall seemed laden with news of the death” (12). Gjorg envisions the sounds of night carrying news of his deed. He feels unable to escape what he did; the natural world itself carries the news. Gjorg makes a similar observation when traveling to Orosh in Chapter 2. He observes: “The country looked much the same; mountains raising their heads behind the shoulders of other mountains as if in frozen curiosity” (35). Describing the mountains as having heads and shoulders personifies them with human qualities, further developing the natural world as a witness watching Gjorg. In Broken April, nature offers no respite for its characters. Rather, nature watches, sees their deeds, and bears witness to their decisions.

One of the customs of the blood feud dictates that a family seeking revenge should hang the bloody shirt of their fallen family member. Bessian describes the tradition to his wife: “In houses that have a death to avenge, they hang up the victim’s bloodstained shirt at a corner of the tower, and they do not take it down until the blood has been redeemed. Can you imagine how terrible that must be?” (111). The grim image of the bloody shirts demonstrates the power the blood feud has over the High Plateau; blood is laid out in the open for the world to see, left hung up, like a flag. Gjorg’s perspective expounds upon the blood shirts. After Gjorg kills Zef, Gjorg’s brother’s bloody shirt is taken down from their tower. However, this ceremonial action doesn’t relieve Gjorg: “Now at last the shirt was hanging on the clothesline. But strangely it gave Gjorg no comfort” (22). Gjorg and his family follow the customs perfectly, but because the customs are violent, Gjorg feels no sense of closure.

When a bloody shirt begins to yellow, the people of the High Plateau take it as a sign that the dead are eager to be avenged. Kadare comments that this custom is inherently absurd: “The seasons, hot or cold, would affect the color of the dried blood, and so would the kind of cloth that the shirt was made of, but no one wanted to take such things into account” (22). In including the bloody shirts, and explaining their yellowing, Kadare develops his commentary on being wary of maintaining cultural traditions without critical thinking.