The Shattered Mirror: A Novel of Family and Memory
The Shattered Mirror
Narrative Technique
In this 19th-century style narrative, an omniscient narrator, privy to all things, guides the story. This narrative omniscience allows for stylistic variations, giving momentum to the storytelling. Through the third person and past tense, events, thoughts, and memories are evoked. The author skillfully alternates between recounting events and transcribing conversations, showcasing editorial omniscience. A first-person monologue by a female character adds an autobiographical layer.
Descriptive Style and Symbolism
The novel employs rich descriptive elements and a disturbing atmosphere, achieved through personifications, antitheses, metaphors, symbolism, and comparisons. Nature’s symbols include:
- Flowers: (Pink, violet, orchid) symbolize beauty and fragility.
- Birds: (Tortured birds) symbolize death.
- Trees: (Laurel, cherry laurel) symbolize death.
- Water: Where James drowns, symbolizes nature’s destructive power.
Objects also hold symbolic weight:
- Jewelry: (Gray pearls) represent Teresa’s beauty and wealth.
- Furniture: (Japanese cabinet) connects to Nicholas.
- Ornaments: (Armanda’s earrings, Eulalia’s fan) signify personal connections.
- Mirror: Reflects the past, distorts reality, and reveals hidden secrets. The broken mirror symbolizes shattered lives and illusions.
- Rat: Represents decay and destruction.
Fantastic elements, such as ghosts and esoteric elements, add to the novel’s mystique.
Setting and Time
The story unfolds in Barcelona, primarily in a desolate, abandoned home and garden in Sant Gervasi. Detailed descriptions of the interior spaces, including the lobby and dining room, create a vivid backdrop. The timeline spans from the late 19th century to the early years of the post-war dictatorship, with the realistic narrator acting as a historian, grounding the story with documented details.
Themes and Structure
Love and death are the central themes of The Shattered Mirror, published in 1974. This mature work by Mercedes Rodoreda chronicles three generations of the Valldaura family. The novel is divided into three parts:
- Part 1: Introduction of characters and their origins.
- Part 2: Focus on the psychological nature and intimacies of the characters.
- Part 3: A decline leading to the final outcome—the destruction of home and family, culminating in Teresa’s death. The outbreak of war significantly influences the narrative.
The Novel’s Scope
The Shattered Mirror is a choral work, exploring the lives of interconnected characters. It portrays Barcelona before the Civil War, reflecting the reality of the time through fragmented narratives, like a shattered mirror. Rodoreda draws inspiration from her childhood memories, particularly her grandfather’s stories and the family garden. The novel, reminiscent of 19th-century serial novels, explores themes of family order and the impact of war. The garden, a blend of various gardens known to Rodoreda, serves as a significant setting.
Female Characters
The female characters are complex and central to the story. Teresa Goday Valldaura, the family matriarch, is a passionate woman facing old age. Sofia Valldaura, her daughter, is portrayed as cold and lacking the sensuality that characterized her mother. Their relationship is intense and complicated. Marie, representing the younger generation, is a poetic character grappling with sexuality, female relationships, family, life, and death. Male figures like Salvador Valldaura, Eladi Farriols, and Albert Riera also play important roles.