In the short story Babette’s Feast we are presented many different ideas. One of these ideas that is consistently repeated throughout the short story is the one about what that the characters are “meant” to be in life. This concept is based on what characters think God meant other characters to be, which is obviously going to vary based on different character’s opinions. However, my question is if the characters ever questioned themselves about what they want to be instead of what they thought they’re meant to be.
One example of this idea is how the two sisters Martine and Philippa, after being raised by their father who instilled them with rigorous religious instruction, thought that they were meant to serve God. Throughout their entire lives all they ever worried about was serving God and staying away from worldly pleasures. They especially stayed away from any material goods because they thought “the earth and all that it held to them was but a kind of illusion, and the true reality was the New Jerusalem toward which they were longing” (21).
Philippa, the younger sister, even had a chance to become a great singer because of her amazing talent, but she rejected it because she thought that that wasn’t what she was meant to do. This is where my question of the characters ever wondering what they wanted to do comes in. Did Philippa ever question whether she wanted to be a singer? Or did she automatically discard that idea because she thought that’s not what she was meant to do? Also, if she did question herself about what she truly wanted, would the answer have been that she wanted to be a singer? And did she not go on with this desire of hers because she thought it would’ve been looked down upon because it wouldn’t have been what she was meant to do? My personal conviction is that she didn’t even question what she wanted because throughout her life all she was ever told was that she should serve God so there wasn’t even a question about what she should do. Serving God was all she knew.
This concept is repeated towards the end. There we see that to Babette cooking is an art. Because of this when she wins the lottery, she makes a great feast for the sisters and their guests. At first Martine and Philippa think that Babette wasted a fortune in preparing a simply dinner, but to Babette that was never a waste of money. She wanted to do it so she could express herself through her art. Before Babette hadn’t been able to do it because she hadn’t had the money to buy the ingredients that she needed for the feast, so when she finally had the money she did not think twice about spending it on that. After the feast is over, the sisters finally understand its importance to Babatte. At this point Philippa tells Babette, “Yet this is not the end! I feel, Babette, that this is not the end. In Paradise you will be the great artist that God meant you to be! Ah!” she added, the tears streaming down her cheeks. “Ah, how you will enchant the angels!” After preparing this feast we know that Babette fulfilled what she wanted to do with her life, the question is if the sisters ever achieved a sense of fulfillment.
Maybe you should start off by thinking why would Babette enchant the Angels, and why would Philippa do the same? I personally think that Babette would do it because of her kindness, Philippa is a little harder to see why but there is a reason. To help you understand, don't look at it as Babette's feast, think about the possible meaning that it has. I changed it and thought about it as us here at Chinquapin for such a long time, and we will "enchant" the teacher in college once we leave. Just think about something that works for you in order to make this more understandable because it was a difficult story to understand.
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