Analyzing Windows as Metaphors in Broken April Anonymous 12th Grade

While windows are technically supposed to show a viewer the outer world, in Broken April they are used to give the reader a peek into the inner feelings of the main characters. When ‘Bessian put(s) his head close to the glass’ and ‘stay(s) a long while in that position’, (pg.167) he is looking at the mysterious land of the Kanun; something which in his mind is wondrous. This ‘tragically beautiful or wonderfully tragic’ (pg.68) view represented his fascinated state of mind. But when Diana, ‘her face pale, look(s) out at the road in silence, or very nearly’, (pg.167) she is looking at the bleakness of the mountains which to her, represents the desolate state of her heart. Her surroundings are making her claustrophobic and causing an emotional turmoil within her. Such cases are representative of the novel's approach, which extends the association between insight and windows to a variety of characters.

In one important instance, when Gjorg sees Diana ‘framed’ in the window of the velvet carriage (pg.109), he feels as if one glance of hers could ‘take hold of him, carry him far away, beyond life, beyond the grave, to where he could look upon himself with serenity’. Looking at that ‘(beautiful) woman with auburn hair’, Gjorg ‘...