The Bloodstained Shirt
The bloodstained shirt is perhaps the most potent symbol in the novel. After a man is killed in a blood feud, his bloodstained shirt is hung outside of his family’s kulla. Before Gjorg killed Zef, the bloodstained shirt of Gjog’s brother, Mehill, hung on a clothesline outside their home. The state of the shirt determines the course of events in seeking vengeance. As Kadaré writes, “when bloodstains began to yellow, people said, it was a sure sign that the dream man was in torment, yearning for revenge” (22). In this way, “the dead man sent signals from the depths of the earth where he lay” (22). When the dead man is avenged, the shirt is finally washed and hung outside the home again, this time to signal that justice has been served.
The bloodstained shirt symbolizes the pressure placed on Gjorg, both by his family and his community, to perpetuate the violence of the blood feuds. Indeed, each day he was reminded of his brother’s killing by the sight of the stained shirt. Forgetting–let alone forgiving–the tragedy of his brother’s death is hardly possible with such a haunting reminder of the violence done against his brother. At the same time, the practice of washing the shirt after the killing has been avenged, demonstrates the shallowness of this kind of revenge. Indeed, when he sees that his brother’s shirt has finally been cleaned, “it gave Gjorg no comfort” (22). Rather than being a cleansing ritual, the act of killing in vengeance only leads to more violence. In other words, each time a shirt is cleaned it means that another bloodied shirt will soon be hung in its place.
The Carriage
Throughout the novel, Bessian and Diana travel in a luxurious horse-drawn carriage. The carriage is described as being “a rubber-tired vehicle…upholstered in black velvet” (61). The symbolism has several aspects. While they are celebrating their honeymoon, the black upholstery is more reminiscent of a funeral. In a sense, their marriage dies while they travel around the High Plateau in the carriage. In this way, the carriage also symbolizes the entrapment that Diana feels in her marriage to Bessian. While she desires to escape to a life with Gjorg in the High Plateau, she is nonetheless confined to the carriage, and indeed, in her marriage to Bessian.
In another sense, the carriage symbolizes the separation between Diana and Bessian and the people of the High Plateau. While the characters like Gjorg walk great distances in the novel, Diana and Bessian are insulated by the luxury of their carriage. Thus, while they think they have come to understand the ways of life in the High Plateau, they are really only getting a shallow view from the confines of the carriage. Given that the carriage was “the kind used in the capital for excursions,” the carriage also symbolizes the differentiated access to technology and luxuries between people in the urban and rural areas.
The Springtime
The action of Broken April takes place between March 17th and April 17th. This is the time of year where winter transitions to spring. Indeed, in the opening scene of the novel, Gjorg sees wild pomegranates scattered beneath the thawing snow. Generally, the springtime symbolizes regrowth, rebirth, and renewal; a time when the days grow longer and the weather grows warmer. In Broken April, however, Kadaré rejects the prospect of regeneration. Quite the opposite, for Gjorg, the spring will be the season in which he dies. He even begins to refer to his “Aprildeath” (20).
In this way, Kadaré suggests that the blood feuds are not natural. In fact, by setting Gjorg’s death amidst this season of renewal, he suggests that the blood feuds actually work in opposition to the laws of nature, and that they create destruction where there might otherwise be regrowth.
The Untilled Fields
As Mark ponders the practice of the blood feud, he thinks of many fields left untilled by families who owe a blood debt. As the narrator explains, “the people who had blood to redeem tilled their fields because it was their turn to kill, and accordingly, no one threatened them” (146). At the same time, “those who owed blood left their fields untilled, and immured themselves in the tower of refuge for protection” (146). In particular, Mark pictures an image of “cultivated fields, and fields untilled, one one side of the road or the other, close but estranged, looking at each other with hatred” (148).
This powerful image symbolizes the power of the Kanun over the people of the High Plateau who are so concerned with following its laws that they have sacrificed their very livelihoods. Here, Kadaré illustrates just how extreme–and unproductive–the blood feuds are. Moreover, he uses this image to demonstrate the vileness of Mark, who prefers the sight of untilled fields because they indicate that more blood taxes will soon be paid. In this way, Kadaré tries to dispel any romantic notions that might surround the blood feuds.
The Towers of Refuge
After a man commits a vengeance killing, he often cloisters himself away in what is known as a “tower of refuge.” These towers are covered by special bessas that protect the man from further violence. According to Mark’s calculations, “there were seventy-four towers of refuge in all the High Plateau, and about a thousand men cloistered in them” (153).
As much as these towers offer refuge, they also create incredible isolation. For fear of death, these men spend years in the towers, separated from their families and communities. In a sense, the towers of refuge symbolize the isolation of the broader High Plateau community as a result of the Kanun. In a sense, the High Plateau is itself a tower of refuge from the advances of modernity, where, even in the 1930s there was no electricity or automobiles. Thus, by forcing her way into one such tower of refuge, Diana is attempting to escape her life in Tirana with Bessian and to forge a new life amongst the people of the High Plateau; however, her lack of reverence for the laws of the Kanun–which forbid women from entering the towers–makes it clear that she will never become a part of this culture.
