Broken April Analysis

Broken April Analysis

Broken April Final Essay

In Broken April, Ismail Kadare conveys how social expectations and rules can mentally and physically trap someone in a violent and depressing cycle.

In regards to being physically trapped, a character that conveys this idea is Gjorg. Kadare's character does this throughout the text, and the conflicts Gjorg faces with his devotion to the Kanun. In the beginning of the text while Gjorg is in the funeral procession, He is described as "[Feeling] the urge to get out of that absurd situation, to bolt from the funeral cortege". (pg 16). And later on in that chapter of the text, it states that "...he knew very well that he could never run away, no more than his grandfather, his great–grandfather, his great–great–grandfather, and all his ancestors five hundred, a thousands years before him had been able to run away." (pg 16). The repetition of his ancestors convey a very trapped tone, showing not only that they could not run away from the funeral, but the kanun itself. Later in the text, when Gjorg is on his way to pay the blood tax, he thinks about the rules of the Kanun, and says that "he could not escape its definitions"(pg 27). Again, the tone is very negative, and Kadare uses the phrase "could not escape" to emphasize that no matter how much Gjorg wanted to, he had to obey the rules and "definitions" within the Kanun. The last time Gjorg appears in this book is in chapter 7, when his bessa is over and he is finally murdered. Before he dies, he thinks

... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...