Broken April By Ismail Kadare: The Effect Of Kanun And Time On Gjorg’S Life

Gjorg, the protagonist in Ismail Kadare’s novel Broken April, has his life drastically changed after murdering Zef. Following the murder, Gjorg’s life can be divided into two segments: the 26 years prior to the killing and the remaining 30 days of his life which follow. With no option other than to respect the law of the Kanun, Gjorg was forced to murder Zef. His life is transformed by this law as noticeable by Gjorg’s behaviour. Gjorg moves beyond being dispirited by the murder towards accepting its permanence. He becomes very anxious about himself and the limited amount of time left in his life. Indeed time becomes very precious to Gjorg, explaining the novel’s limited time frame, in which he tries to cultivate a passion for life.

The reader’s first insight into Gjorg is the strong desolation he feels when waiting for Zef, the person he must murder under the law of Kanun. Anxiously, he prays, ‘Please not a wound this time’. His prayer demonstrates how much this means to him and that he cannot miss this opportunity or otherwise his family will be in further danger. Though Gjorg feels immense nervousness, he is relieved once the killing is done. As a result of the killing, the reader gains an insight into what it means to obey the law of the Kanun and how it can shape one’s life. From this point forward, Gjorg feels that ‘the twenty-six years he had lived thus far, and the thirty days that begun on that very day’, knowing that he must make the most out of the remainder of his life. After the killing, only a sense of acceptance can help him move on with his life. Previously, he forces himself not to think of anything, to try and forget what has happened. Nevertheless, towards the end of the novel, Gjorg continues to suffer with his past, carrying the burden of the murder. When he sees Zef’s tomb, Gjorg’s first instinct is to destroy it, as it is due to the blood feud their families are bound toto, under the law of the Kanun, that his life will come to an endpg. 2004161-0022 May 2019 ENGSLso quickly. He becomes anxious, only able to imagine himself becoming a collection of worthless stones on the floor.

Additionally, Gjorg asks himself, ‘if life outside the whirlpool of blood might be more peaceful’ showing that Gjorg does not like to obey the law, he ponders what life would be like without the law of the blood feud. Furthermore, he wonders what his life would have been if no one had showed up to his grandfather’s home many years ago to start the on-going blood feud. He describes the killing as a ‘whirlpool of blood’, to portray how violent the law of the Kanun actually is. Hence from this, his attitude changes as he tries to rationalise it with himself. Gjorg’s characterisation could be best described by Alan W. Watts’ quote, ‘It’s better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing, than a long life spent in a miserable way. ’ Moreover, Gjorg drastically changes his behaviour while searching for the Kulla of Orosh in order to pay his blood tax which requires travel across the High Plateau. He believes that once finding the Kulla, he will simply pay and return to his village. However, this is not the case, Gjorg discovers that some people have been waiting for up to three days to pay their blood feud. Shocked, Gjorg says in a slightly negative tone ‘three days, how can that be?’ As time is very precious to him, he cannot wait three days. In addition, it is described as a very strange movement by Gjorg. He says that ‘Up to a certain hour, the day seemed endless to him, then, suddenly, like a drop of water that after having trembled a moment on the flower of a peach tree, falls suddenly, the day would shatter and die. ’ Time being represented as a ‘flower of a peach tree’, falling suddenly, shows the abrupt death awaiting him. It furthermore shows the importance of time in this novel, and how it is a recurring thought of Gjorg.

The Kanun is the most important symbol in this novel, it reflects social control and limitation, dictating the lives of those forced to obey it. Kadare sets the story in a specific and inescapable time frame, just as Gjorg cannot escape the the Kanun. According to the Kanun, ‘Gjorg would be a dead man. ’Kadare illustrates the importance of the Kanun for those affected by it. The rest of Gjorg’s ‘young’ life will be determined within this month. Time is enhanced through the depiction of change in light. For example, ‘Outside, night has fallen, to Gjorg it seemed to have come down all at once. ’ Suddenly it becomes dark outside, designed to create sympathy for the reader with the shock that Gjorg experiences. Kadare wants the reader to understand how valuable time is for the protagonist and how the Kanun plays the role of a supreme authority over society.

Last but not least, Gjorg has found whom he desires the most, Diana. At this point, he has moved beyond accepting Zef’s murder, deciding to maximize his remaining days. It is normal for humans to chase what they desire the most, Diana in his case, after they met on his journey to the High Plateau. He mistakenly takes a compliment from her, in which he understood that she called him beautiful, during a time when Gjorg seeks to regain confidence after feeling like a worthless murderer. Gjorg maintains pride in himself, for example he prefers to ‘stay in the realm of April death than. . . become hapless woodcutter’. On the final day of his thirty days, he only wants to find Diana at the Inn where she was taken to by Bessian, her husband, in an attempt to her move here away from Gjorg. With mere hours remaining, Gjorg is simply chasing his final ambition, showing the desolation and emptiness he feels. The power of his longing for Diana is evident when he admires a waterfall, ‘In all his life, he had never seen more wonderful waterfall. It was different from all those he had ever seen. ’ Meaning that in the 26 years he lived, he had never found someone he desired as much as Diana, he even thinks about her when staring at the most beautiful waterfall he has ever encountered. With nothing to lose, he tries to find Diana with only little time left in his life. His only regret will be to end his life the way that not only he would like to finish it, but how everyone would want to. No one wants to end their life alone, but rather with whom they desire the most, in this case Diana.

Ultimately Kadare demonstrates how the law of the Kanun dictates the lives of innocent men tied to this ancient barbaric law. Such men are unable to escape the blood feuds provoked by their ancestors. It symbolises constitution and customary law. Unfortunately Gjorg’s life was cut short by the Kanun. Consequently Gjorg suffers, with only having one month left to live, he tries to live to the fullest. His life undergoes a drastic change and he does not want to end his life in despair and regret, deciding to chase his desires for one last time. Kadare illustrates the importance of time for Gjorg through setting the story in a specific time frame from which he is unable to escape, just as others are unable to escape the law of the Kanun. Finally, one can learn from Gjorg’s experiences, no matter how much time one has left to live, one should live every day to the fullest, as if if it were their last.