Analyze the text to show how the writer justifies Babette’s decision to spend so much money for the feast. Is the writer convincing?

Analysis Essay

Prompt
In the fiction story “Babette’s Feast” by Karen Blixen (aka Isak Dinesen), the main character spends all the money that she wins in the lottery to prepare” a real French dinner” for the disciples although her choice means she will spend the rest of her life as a servant among strangers. The two sisters find this decision “incomprehensible”. How do you understand Babette’s decision? If we consider the Utilitarian principle that an action is morally right when it produces the “greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number of people”, does it justify ethically Babette’s decision?

Analyze the text to show how the writer justifies Babette’s decision to spend so much money for the feast. Is the writer convincing? Why? Is this an ethical choice?

Pre-thinking, Pre-writing questions:

What would you think if a woman who has lost everything spent 10,000 francs to prepare and offer a dinner to a group of relative strangers to her without even sitting at the table with them? Is it an extravagant, eccentric act? Is it an act of generosity or selfishness? Is it a waste of money? Is the high cost of gastronomy justified? What is the cost of Babette’s choice? How does she benefit from her choice? What new meanings do the lives of all or most of the characters acquire? How are the conflicts both external and internal resolved? What do the contrasts that run in the story signify? How do different symbols, language/style, metaphoric or literal images connect to the message the writer is trying to convey? What are the effects of the feast on the guests? Why is it significant that the guests break their vow of silence? What is after all the message the writer is trying to pass to the readers? Does she achieve her purpose convincingly?