Broken April

Strikingly beautiful, Diana Vorpsi is another protagonist of Broken April. A city dweller from Tirana, Diana has just married Bessian Vorpsi, an egotistical writer. Throughout the story, men ogle Diana, showing the objectification women endure in many societies. Even when Diana isn’t placed in a scene, she becomes a topic for misogynists. As Gjorg wanders from inn to inn, he overhears strangers describing Diana. The way the men speak about her is crude enough that Gjorg fantasizes about killing everyone in the inn. Later, when Gjorg speaks to a man riding a black ox, the man says of Diana, “that woman was beautiful as a fairy. Her eyes pierced you through and through” (212). For the ox rider and Gjorg, Diana’s beauty takes on a magical quality. She is pedestalized, to the detriment of the men who worship her: Gjorg’s obsession with Diana finds him traversing unsafe roads, where he becomes an easy target for a would-be assassin.

Additionally, her own husband makes frequent unwanted advances, valuing her body more than her entire self. Diana has no control over the body she was born into. Through no fault of hers, tension festers between her and the men who come and go in her life. The men who objectify and worship her the most—Bessian and Gjorg—end the story in worse positions than where they started, a plot element that creates a cautionary message for how men should treat and view women.

Aside from her physical beauty, Diana is forthright and strong. Even with her egotistical and talkative husband, she isn’t afraid to speak her mind:

Usually, she let [Bessian] know whatever thoughts happened to come to her, and indeed he never took it amiss if she let slip a word that might pain him, because when all was said and done that was the price one paid for sincerity (89).

Diana being a woman puts her in a less powerful position in Albanian society, but she isn’t afraid to be outspoken. Strangers, too, aren’t off limits to Diana’s sharp tongue. When a drunken surveyor who has been scanning her up and down tries to approach Diana, Kadare writes: “‘What do you want?’ she said coldly, without concealing her disgust” (105). The man doesn’t stay long after that. Regularly, Diana shows herself to be a person who isn’t afraid to speak her mind. She is willing to put her foot down, even in a world dominated by men.

Diana also demonstrates that she is an engaged and critical thinker. She responds viscerally to what she learns. When Ali Binak’s doctor describes a man who makes a living off being wounded, Bessian notices, “[Diana] seemed to him to be even more pale. This conversation must stop as soon as possible, he thought” (193). Often, the men accept the world for what it is, while Diana feels the cracks and flaws. Diana’s curiosity takes her to places in the High Plateau where even Bessian won’t go. In Chapter 6, she sneaks away from Bessian and enters a tower of refuge, hoping Gjorg is there. A witness who sees her later remarks, “In fact, as some person remembered thereafter, she had drawn away from the people in the square and approached the tower as lightly as a moth fluttering towards a lamp” (198). Comparing Diana to a moth flying toward a lamp suggests she is unhesitant, even fearless, when approaching the tower of refuge. What she sees inside the tower shocks her, but she isn’t afraid to venture inside, showing curiosity and bravery not seen in the novel’s other characters of Broken April.

A talkative and pretentious writer, Bessian Vorpsi has made a career of writing about the Kanun. His fascination with the High Plateau and the people who live there inspires him to take his wife to the North country for their honeymoon. Bessian is not a primary protagonist like Gjorg and Diana, but his profession is the motivating force that brings him and Diana to Gjorg, setting off important events for the story. Bessian’s knowledge of the Kanun gives Kadare an avenue to provide exposition to the reader. When Bessian is introduced in Chapter 3, he talks endlessly about the High Plateau to Diana; Kadare thus immediately establishes Bessian’s talkative nature while also providing rich world-building details.

For as well researched as Bessian is, however, details about the High Plateau remain unknown to him. When he meets Ali Binak, famous across the High Plateau, Bessian doesn’t know who he is. Later, when Diana enters the tower of refuge, Bessian panics, all his researched knowledge useless. Bessian’s studious nature enables him to talk and talk, but he proves to be unknowing and timid in real-life situations. With this character, Kadare shows that studying and writing about a culture aren’t enough to fully grasp it.

Bessian routinely looks down at his wife, thinking of her as a lesser person. During one of their carriage rides, he rambles: “He talked on, his head quite close to her shoulder, as if he meant to ask her for answers to all the questions or speculations that he advanced, though his delivery scarcely allowed for any response on her part” (81). He doesn’t give her a chance to respond, widening the distance that grows between them throughout the novel. As Diana grows increasingly aloof to him, he makes her unspoken emotions about himself:

He smiled to himself and realized that he was not in the least unhappy. After all, she had always found him somewhat remote, and there was no harm if she were to become a little aloof herself. Perhaps she would seem even more desirable to him (92).

Bessian’s hubris and demeaning opinion of his wife turn him into an antagonistic character for Diana. He isn’t the primary villain of the story, but his treatment of his wife adds to the tension of the story and sets him up for downfall.

Despite his all-knowing attitude, Bessian proves to be a frightened and weak man. As the honeymoon descends into awkward tension of unspoken feelings, Bessian thinks, “the only reason that he had put off having it out with his wife was fear. I’m afraid of what she might say, he thought, I’m afraid, but why?” (176). Bessian wants to yell at his wife, but his fear is too great. For all his angry and frustrated thoughts, fear dominates him the most. Thinking of what Diana might say to him, Bessian feels, “No, it would be better that she keep silent all through this dreadful trial, that she turn into a mummy, and that he never hear her say to him the things that would give him pain” (176). He’d rather his wife stay silent than face being hurt. This decision is the apex of his fear and cowardice; he won’t talk to his own wife because he’s afraid of the pain the truth will bring.