The Plague Of Doves

Evelina packs up everything she owns in a single trunk and goes to college, astounded to see her classmate’s possessions. “In spite of my determination to go to Paris, I had actually dreaded leaving home even to go as far as Grand Forks, and in the end my parents did not want me to go either” (221). The love that Evelina sees on her parents’ faces scares her, although it later helps her survive. Evelina unpacks her pictures of Mooshum in traditional clothes and Shamengwa holding his violin. Evelina feels like she doesn’t fit in with the white girls or the studious Native American girls, and she fears that Mooshum might die while she’s in college.

Evelina is inspired by dark poetry and falls in love with the diaries of Anaïs Nin, of which she purchases the entire box set to bring home with her at summer break. Even though their socio-economic backgrounds are completely different, Evelina tries to model her own life off Anaïs, writing her own set of diaries. Evelina writes long letters to Joseph and reads Anaïs to Corwin, who deals to her friends. Evelina lives in a commune with other students and artists, although she becomes furious with how dirty they are.