Following Your Dreams

In Babette's Feast, we see that some people have certain dreams in life that they are to follow. Like Martine and Phillipa are to take their father, The Dean's place when he dies, Achille Papin is to be a singer in Paris or even Babette who was a renowned cook in Paris. But, with all those people we see that they're pursuing those dreams because they want to do what they love, but with General Lowenhielm, who was at first Loren Lowenhielm, he wants to pursue the dream of being a general so that he can prove to himself a person of high esteem. He felt belittled for not being able to get Martine and he feels that the only way to prove himself as a man who's worthy of respect is to attain a favorable social status. I can tell he feels emasculated when he questions," How had it come to pass that a lieutenant of the hussars had let himself be defeated and frustrated by a set of long-faced sectarians, in the bare-floored rooms of an old Dean's house"(24)? So he goes on to become this highly-regarded general who gets transferred from France to Russia and even gets to marry the heiress to the throne of Queen Sophia. But, 31 years later, we see that all of that is still not enough for Lowehielm. When they're traveling to Berlevaag for the Dean's dinner, he thinks of his life and the vanity involved in it. He's not satisfied with his wife, his life, or even the victories he has received in the various battles he's been in. He looks at himself in the mirror and exclaims, "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity" (45)! The story of General Lowehielm shows us that chasing a life where you can be rich and famous is not satisfying if you're seeking it for the wrong reasons. With Lowenhielm, he didn't really want or truly desire the life he wanted, rather he thought we wanted it so he would never feel belittled again in his life. He would have been much happier in his life had he found something in life that he was truly passionate about.

Works Cited
Dinesen, Isak. Anecdotes of Destiny ; And, Ehrengard. New York: Vintage, 1993. Print.