Mariette in Ecstasy Essay -- Literary Review

In the book Mariette in enthusiasm, Rob Hansen paints a story of the extraordinary happening at a priory in upstate New York. His depiction of flavour in the priory is center on around the newly inducted Mariette Baptiste, the young and beautiful daughter of a local anesthetic physician, and the disputed events that threaten to tear the priory apart from within. Rob Hansen does an incredible bank line of placing the reader in the priory for themselves and allowing them to see just what kind of life the sisters live. On Mariettes first day, the women rise at five o measure to a ritualized call and response, where Sister Hermance shouts, In Jesus Christ, my sisters, let us rise and the sisters respond with, His holy name be praised (Page 5). The women follow a rigorous and regular schedule for the rest of the day. Embedded in their modus vivendi are a lot of rituals and intricate tasks, which have been almost solely legitimized by their repetition. The women of the priory also live a highly ascetic life, believe that the hard work performed and simple living conditions in themselves al 1 behind give rise to an experience that is greater than anything achievable through other worldly goals. Mariette herself writes prayerfully, Were it necessary to give up all the worldly pleasures of my life to gain one instant of happiness for you, I would do it without hesitation. (Page 135). The focal point the sisters go about living their spiritual life has a disturb of Peter Bergers idea of masochism to it as well. In Mariettes duologue with Pre Marriott, she says, as I began to meditate on the agony and Christs own trials in this world, I became rapt in thought and I found myself again before Jesus, who was suffering much(prenominal) terrible painAn unquench... ... common problem of theodicy. If God is good, why would he not help his own followers and prevent them from being direct astray? The act of calling in a surgeon implies that devotion is not good or powerful enough which calls into question the exhibition of things within the priory and even the plausibility structure that has been securely established for so long.Ron Hansen for the most part avoids directly addressing these religious issues instead Mariette in Ecstasy aligns more with what Mikhail Bakhtin argues a novel is, a presentation of many perspectives. In the end these two perspectives both have their own idea of what the objective truth of the presented world is, and while Ron Hansen avoids directly presenting one side as the one thats right, his novel brings up the existence of more than one side, which alone is more than many similar religious works do.