Bessian's Outcome
At the beginning of the novel, Bessian is a fervent admirer of the High Plateau and he consistently expresses an appreciation of the “place where the laws of death prevail over the laws of life” (69). Indeed, he has even appointed himself as something of an expert of the region and its culture. Diana, however, is much more ambivalent on the subject, and at one point curses Bessian for bringing her on the trip. Ironically, by the end of the novel, Bessian and Diana have effectively traded places: whereas Diana has come to love the Plateau, and Gjorg in particular, whereas Bessian feels that “he had put his happiness to the test…and it had not withstood that test” (208). In a sense, the place which had once brought him so much joy and excitement has become the place where the happiness of his marriage has tragically unraveled.
The Washed Shirt
A curious custom in the blood feud involves the hanging of bloodstained shirts out on clotheslines each time a man has been killed. The shirt remains on the washing line until the man has been avenged by another killing, at which time the shirt is finally washed. This is the case with Gjorg after he kills Zef and sees his brother’s shirt “white in the wind, waving billowing joyously” (22). The cleaning of the shirt suggests that the vengeance killing has somehow produced a state of purity or renewal. Ironically, it has done just the opposite, because for every clean shirt that hangs on a washing line it means that a bloodstained shirt hangs somewhere nearby. Contrary to what the shirts might suggest, there is no purifying aspect to the practice of vengeance killing.
The Origin of the Blood Feud
In the second chapter of the novel, Gjorg thinks about the origins of his family’s blood feud. The feud had begun 70 years earlier, when a man knocked on the Gjorg’s grandfather’s home and asked for a place to stay the night. According to the laws of the Kanun, a guest is a sacred figure that must be protected at all costs. The next day, however, the guest was shot while leaving the village. It was later determined that the guest was killed by a member of the Kryeqyqye family, and thus “Gjorg’s clan, which had hitherto lived in peace, was at last caught up by the great engine of the blood feud” (33). Ironically, Gjorg finds himself forced to participate in a blood feud that began with the death of a stranger, and thus someone that Gjorg’s family shares no actual blood with.
The Doctor Who Heals No Wounds
The doctor is a peculiar character in the novel. He appears several times, but only has the chance to speak at length in his final interaction with Bessian. During this conversation, he reveals that he studied medicine in Austria but was unable to start a career after returning to Albania. After living in poverty for some time, he began to work with Ali Binak in resolving disputes. While trained as a doctor, he ironically does not treat any wounds. Instead, his job is to “count the wounds, classify them, and nothing else” in order to calculate the necessary blood fines (192). So, while doctors usually try to heal people, this doctor actually facilitates the continuation of the violent vengeance.
