Suspicion

Now I only read a little more than half of the story, Babette’s Feast, but from the reading that I have done I wonder whether she is really good woman? We have any books where the kind the woman has two sides to her that many do not recognize; therefore, I suspecting that she is hiding something from Philippa and Marine, the daughter’s of the Dean.
Now we know that from the letter Achille Papin of Paris sent that she is good woman, but why would a woman be so kind to two younger women and serve them for free. At first Babette appeared to be a beggar, but then to the two sisters she turned out to be a “conqueror”. When the two sisters told her they weren’t going to be able to pay her, she said that she would work for free and she wouldn’t want to work anywhere else. The narrator of this story states that Babette said, “If they sent her away she must die” (31). From the beginning of when they met, Babette showed her faithfulness to the younger woman, only knowing that according to Papin they are good people. Why would she do such things for people that she doesn’t even know? When Philippa has the dream that Babette poisons the older brothers and sister on page 40, it makes me think that Babette is up to something else. After all, she never speaks a word about her past life.
Another question that was brought to my mind was whether or not the two sisters are just using Babette. At the beginning when they first meet, the sisters inform Babette that they are poor and don’t like luxurious things. They said, “The first day after Babette has entered their service… they…explained to her that they were poor and that to them luxurious fare was sinful” (32). But, then they turn around and let her cater their father’s anniversary party after she wins her money. To me, they aren’t as good as they seem either.




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