Babettes Feast Essay

Uwem Akpan’s story, “An Ex-Mas Feast” is a story of the struggles that one family goes through to give gifts on their upcoming Christmas season. Akpan introduces the reader to the struggles of the main characters, which directly ties into the details of impoverished town that they live in. Jigana, one of the story’s main characters, starts off as a naïve 8 year old little boy who was anxious to start going to school. In a stark contrast, Maisha, the eldest sister at 12 years old, held her own and prostituted to bring in money for her family. The second oldest, Naema, was closer to Maisha than any of the others, and Maisha gave her tips and tricks of her trade. Akpan begins the story by saying that the

The meal consists of decadent meats, sea food, and alcohol. All of which her parents would have certainly prohibited. The meals she consumes throughout the story are not only lavish in taste and composition but also in price. The narrator spends "thousands" on the meals she is eating at the hotel.

Throughout history, symbols have had an overwhelming presence among citizens. The French Revolution had many symbols that represented power. Did the events leading up to the storming of the Bastille persuade the French citizens to believe that it was a symbol of power? There are many reasons why the French citizens would believe the Bastille to be a symbol of power. It was a very overwhelming stone structure, which stood robust, surrounded by small villages along with farmland. The architecture and placement of this fortress gave itself a reputation of strength and impregnation. It stood by itself, being the most intimidating structure of its time.

This film has many protagonists. The main protagonist is Martin Naranjo. He is an accomplished chef who is a widower. He lives with his three adult daughters who are very beautiful, but remain single. Naranjo lost his wife approximately ten years prior to the setting of the film. Since then he has assumed the role of father and mother. Naranjo works as a chef fulfilling is fatherly role and he also does all of the cooking, cleaning and laundry fulfilling his motherly role. Naranjo maintains that on every Sunday, the family shares a meal to share their life experiences of the week with each other. The meal seems to be a tradition in that family that has been a part of the family’s ritual prior to the passing of the mother. Some of the daughters find the meal to be more of a punishment than an enjoyment. Martin for most of the film has lost his ability to taste the flavor in the food he creates. He relies at work upon his best friend and fellow chef, Gomez played by Julio Mechoso, for taste. Martin is the main protagonist as he demonstrates the most change. He lets go of his adult daughters, one at a time while gaining two more daughters, Eden the daughter of his much younger bride than he and his unborn child with the same, Yolanda.

wanted to get away from Great Britain to purify their faith and religion, they didn’t agree

She gleefully adds in her first passage: “We are all going to heaven…in other words, how good life seemed, how sweet its rewards, how trivial this grudge or that grievance, how admirable friendship and the society of one‘s kind, as, lighting a good cigarette, one sunk among the cushions in the window-seat”. Her tone came off as if she was stunned by the environment in the men’s dining hall. The environment was so joyful and lush that she even began to think of how good her life was, merely based on the food that was given in this dining hall. It is a different story for the women’s dining hall when she murmurs: “That was all. The meal was over. Everybody scraped their chairs back; the swing-doors swung violently to and fro...”. She promptly shifted her tone from a thankful and happy person to monotone and dull, and because of this, readers can detect the attitude of hers towards the two very different meals. In the dining hall of the men's her tone gave off that the environment was almost heavenly, where everyone was joyful and they came to eat the delicious food together in a vivid environment. In the dining hall of the women's, her tone gave off that the women came together to eat because they had no choice, as if it was just another annoying task they had to do before resuming their

“When you got to the table you couldn 't go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there warn 't really anything the matter with them, -- that is, nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrel of odds and ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around, and the things go better.” (Twain, 1)

Imagine a coming across a once in a lifetime chance to try and change a person’s perspective by simply being yourself. Dinner at Beatriz is exactly a chance such as that, and engages an audience to not only consider the character’s actions, but also their own. The film premiered on the 16th of June 2017, and coupled with the polarizing politics of America’s government, it was an excellent time to produce such a movie. Directed by Miguel Arteta, best known for his production of Chuck and Buck and a few episodes of American Horror Story, Beatriz at Dinner is a film that is both impacting and current movie. Beatriz, played by Salma Hayek, is a lower-middle class immigrant from México who specializes in alternative medicinal healing. From little details, like the few bumper stickers on her car and the way she looks at others, one can tell that she cares a great deal for the environment and the human race. In the film she is called over to a higher class house to give a massage to a wealthy house wife, played by Cathy Briton. Her car breaks down and she is suddenly plummeted into an elitist world of corruption and selfishness, and the biggest conflict for Beatriz is to find the humanity inside Doug Strutt, played by John Lithgow.

“There one of them asked me why I wept; I could hardly tell what to say, yet I answered they would kill me. ‘No,’ said he, ‘none will hurt you.’ Then came one of them and gave me two spoonfuls of meal to comfort me, and another gave me half pint of peas which was more worth than many bushels at another time.”(71). The Natives showed her great affection with was not expected of them from her puritanical views. Although she knew no harm would come to her she expected to leave “them” as soon as possible.

However, when their mother came through the door and told them of a hungry family, the 4 women did not hesitate in giving away their luscious breakfast to those in need. The children delivered the food to the family and “a poor, bare, miserable room it was, with broken windows, no fire, ragged bedclothes, a sick mother, wailing baby, and a group of pale, hungry children cuddled under one old quilt, trying to keep warm”(24). The sisters realize what a harsh environment they live in, and because the setting is so pessimistic, they try to share the little wealth they have so that everyone may live long full lives. The setting in which they live, houses many people who have even less wealth than their own family. However, because of this dreadful place, they try and make sure that their community, or their family, is taken care of, even at the expense of their luxuries.

After the baker takes all the rage thrown on him by Ann, he in return begs for forgiveness and gives the parents what they were lacking, that is food. The baker does all this even though he is alone and virtually makes contact with anybody.

Throughout the course we have studied books and movies to get a glimpse what it means to live a sacramental lifestyle. For example in Isak Dinesen Babette's Feast, we are allowed to see three different ways of living life there are the two sister and their puritan sect, a French maid/cook, and a general in the army. The two sisters live a very simple puritan lifestyle where sacraments are preformed and they have service and worship God. Then we have Babette a famous chief in France turn refugee and housekeeper who is not a puritan herself but learns to conform to a simple lifestyle. Finally a lieutenant who in the beginning is so focused on his career he loses sight of the important things and only later in life does he begin to realize the

We see yet again another movie with a covenantal theme, as covenantal agreement is a common concept in many people's daily lives. "Babette's Feast (1987)" is a Danish movie that takes us into the lives of two women, Martine and Philippa. Three scenes from the movie that embodies a covenantal theme are: one for the beginning of the movie is the theme of loyalty, from the scene where the women at their early days chose their father over their suitors, Another from the middle of the movie is the theme of perseverance, from the scene where Martine and Philippa both sat in quietly in the midst of the other believers as they all argued endlessly. The last theme of selflessness is illustrated in the scene where Basette reveals to the women that she used her winnings to prepare their father's hundredth birthday dinner in his remembrance. This essay would touch more on each of the listed themes of loyalty, perseverance, and selflessness, from each of the three mentioned scenes from the movie.

     France, which is the largest nation in Western Europe, is a presidential republic. France is a very important nation in Europe and it continues to be involved in contemporary policy issues. Helping the world as one of the great trading nations, France is a very important trading partner with the United States. Not only is France important to the United States, they are also important to countries all over the world. Their abundance of both mineral and agricultural resources make them a very important supplier of products all over the world. I chose to report on France because it is an interesting county and I wanted to learn more about it.

Julia Robertson is a senior at Tech, and she's investigating different ways to finance her final year at school. She is considering leasing a food booth outside the Tech stadium at home football games. Tech sells out every home game, and Julia knows, from attending the games herself, that everyone eats a lot of food. She has to pay $1,000 per game for a booth, and the booths are not very large. Vendors can sell either food or drinks on Tech property, but not both. Only the Tech athletic department concession stands can sell both inside the stadium. She thinks slices of cheese pizza, hot dogs, and barbecue sandwiches are the most popular food items among fans and so these are the items she would sell.