The "Good People"

Their consent in the end completely changed Babette.  They saw that as a young woman she had been beautiful.  And they wondered whether in this hour they themselves had not, for the very first time, become to her the "good people" of Achille Papin's letter (38).

The two sisters, Martine and Philippa, in Babette's Feast, are seen by their town as good people.  They themselves see themselves in this light as well.  "...they were poor and that to them luxurious fare was sinful.  Thier own food must be as plain as possible...(32)."  This is how they justified denying Babette to indulge in the artistry for French cooking she posessed.  They claimed that French luxury was near sinful.  The sisters do in fact give to chairity and never turn down anyone that ends up on their doorstep.  Babette is a good example of their goodness.  They do not know her, yet they take her in when Achille Papin recommends the sisters to Babette as good people that can help her.  Babette accepts their offer and submits to the sisters' requests. 

When Babette wins the lottery, the sisters' attitude change toward her.  They are afraid that they will lose her, meaning they will be losing a servant that they are not paying at all.  This makes the sisters selfish.  Although it may be best for Babette to leave, they don't want her to because it will be inconveniencing them and they feel that Babette owes them for taking her in, although that is not really being a good person.  When Babette makes the simple request to cook a French dinner for their benefit and decides to spend her money for the feast the sisters give in grudgingly.  This is when I realized that the sisters are not truly good.  This goes back to my argument in Good Woman of Setzuan: No one can be purely good.  Eveyone has their flaws, and Babette brought out the flaws of the sisters in this novela.  

Work Cited:

Dinesen, Isak. "Babette's Feast." Babette's Feast and Other Anecdotes of Destiny. New York: Vintage, 1988. Print.

The sisters

In the story the most interesting part for me was about the two sisters. The story talks about them and their lovers or so called suitors that they had for a time. It mentions that Martine's love interest didn't stay long because with seeing her more and more each day he began to feel more and more inadequate compared to the beauty of her and her younger sister. So he left from her sight and was never able to speak about her again to his comrades. Was he ashamed of the fact of his non-beauty that he had compared to the two sisters or was he ashamed that he of all people could not overcome this one obstacle and tell this lady that he so truly loved his feeling? I believe that it is a little bit of both; because as a chief he should be able to handle any and every situation but he let this one slip out of his hands because of his fear of her immense beauty and I believe that it was also the fact that he didn't think himself beautiful enough for her or to be seen with her. He mentions how he steadily looks across the table between Martine and her sister and kept feeling lower of himself every time that he came to visit the Dean. In the case of Philippa, Martine's younger sister, it is much different. The man who loved her came to visit as well and even called upon her father to ask him if he could give her some voice lessons. He was not afraid of being in adequate or less beautiful, but when he called upon her and they sang together he, out of passion, kissed her. She then after that told herr father to cease her lessons with him. Why did she stop the lessons? Was she afaid because she did not feel for the man like he felt for her? Was she scared of the kiss because it brought to her some emotions that she was trying to keepa secret from herself and he brought them to the surface? Had she never been kissed before and done like all girls do and automatically bail out of fear because they don't know what the next move will be?