Good question. Presumably having been raised in the Roman Catholic faith, and being exposed to this way of life provided an inspiration of sorts for her. The film makes it abundantly clear that she was never meant to be a nun. Her personality type was just not compatible with the mindset required of nuns at that time. It's too bad it took her so long to discover that and come to terms with it.
Of course nowadays a woman of her capabilities would just become a doctor.
You know I thought there was another side to the story in that Hepburn in her roleplayed the perfect nun, i.e really attuned to a religious cause to do good around her. From an institutional point of view though, all they wanted was for her to spiritually follow the tenets of her order. This conflicted with her view that she should be getting involved with the problems of the world as she saw it. Eventually, this got her so confused internally that the pull of the world took her out of the order. The institution wouldn't change so she had to. Ironic that this was the state of affairs. You would have thought that
the religious order would bend a bit to minister to those it would like to help but, at that time, it was pretty well locked up on how the convent could react to her. The last shot told something too. She went out alone. Goodbye.
As a nun the convent would have paid for her training to be a nurse, and also when she was sent out to the Congo. We know her father paid her dowry but we don't know if he was wealthy enough to fund her medical training.
The Long Walk stops every year, just once.
Her father could have funded her medical training. He was a prominent surgeon, so prominent that when Sister Luke blurts out his name to Dr. Fortunati, he seems quite familiar with Dr. van der Mal and his reputation.
shareExactly true, and it struck me that her father would have been enough of a mold-breaker to even get his daughter into medical school so she could become a full doctor.
Why didn't she go the lay route?
I read the book but that was a zillion years ago, so I don't remember what answers there were -- but I recall the book didn't address it. She simply entered the convent and we had to take the decision on faith.
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Please put some dashes above your sig line so I won't think it's part of your dumb post.
Exactly what I thought. But, I guess Gabi's pride and her perfectionist way played a huge part in her decision and deluding herself into thinking that was what she wanted. By becoming closer to God, she could become her most perfect self, esp. as a nurse, maybe?
shareIf you look at the context of the time, a woman's role was FIRST a wife and mother and then possibly some career like teaching or nursing. Catholic nuns were among the first women to earn docotorates, be university president, found hospital systems, etc. This was obvioulsy free labor for the Church as well a place for those for whom marriage was not an option. Today, a woman who does not want to be married has many options. In the context of the day, there wer not too many: marriage, be a spinster without a career and take care of elderyl parents, or be a nun. It was relatively simple.
I was raised in an orphanage much like the fictioan lone called St. Francis in the movie the Trouble with Angels and they existed all over the US and gave a chance for kids like me to get ahead in life. (Most) American nuns are too busy learning about Eastern mediatation and "finger painting" than the self-less structured women who raised me. Most of these "boarding" schools for well-to-do/troubled kids also took in orphans/poor like me. These nuns did EVERYTHING from cooking to harvesting the farm. I was in one from age 4 to 13: orphange, sent to the high school with rich girls, given a full scholarship to the unversity run by the same sisters. I felt so guilty marrying and not joining them-- they were just the opposite--- are you crazy? You have no vocation to be a nun. Be happy and we will share your happiness. Looking back, I find it amazing, all done by poor women in a society where all the power was held by men. This moviewas EXACTLY my experience of high school: mostly girls from rich families with "things" (divorces, deceased moms, etc.) going on. We graduated 30 and 8 of us were orphans from birth bascially raised by the nuns without a penny from the State. There were the wacky nuns, the pretty ones, the intellectual ones, the old ones, the wise ones, the fun ones, etc. It was JUST the way it really was.
You have an interesting life story.
To thine own self be true.
Thank you so much. Reading your story made my day.
Pax te.
(Most) American nuns are too busy learning about Eastern mediatation and "finger painting" than the self-less structured women who raised me.You can't be too sure of that. And even if that were true, good for them. Because as the nuns taught you---everyone has a different path in life. Everyone is good at different things. If some nuns are better keeping to themselves and living a life solely of prayer in the church, that's their path.
Most of these "boarding" schools for well-to-do/troubled kids also took in orphans/poor like me. These nuns did EVERYTHING from cooking to harvesting the farm. I was in one from age 4 to 13: orphange, sent to the high school with rich girls, given a full scholarship to the unversity run by the same sisters.That is great! I hope it still exists and they still do that. My mom lived with nuns as a school-girl for a while. She still says if she hadn't of gotten tangled up with my dad, she would have become a nun herself---and she's serious!
I felt so guilty marrying and not joining them-- they were just the opposite--- are you crazy? You have no vocation to be a nun. Be happy and we will share your happiness.And that right there proves what wonderful women they are! No big heads, no we are better than you, cause you won't join us. They are happy doing what they do, and they knew that you wouldn't be happy unless you followed another path. Very understanding of them.
Why did she want to be a nun? Go ask Delores Hart who became a nun after starring in Where The Boys Are.
shareTo me, some of the reasons she became a nun were; she was devout, although I think she was too independent to succeed in the order, and also I think her work went beyond nursing. Most nurses even now do not have such extensive education in bacteriology and virology. She seemed to do a lot of diagnostic work, such as reviewing slides,doing tests and assessing the priest on the leper colony. I'm sure she would have become a doctor if she had been born even 20 years later. The work she did in the Congo better suited her abilities.
shareCorrect me if I'm wrong but I read somewhere that the real-life inspiration for Sister Luke was in fact a lesbian who could not come to terms with that and, in a way, found purpose in her life as a nun. Of course, I can imagine that suppressing yourself in this manner can be emotionally destructive. It's interesting though. If a woman didn't feel the calling to be a wife or a mother, then what other outlet was there at the time whether straight or gay? I bet she raised less suspicion if she lived in the sanctuary of the Church.
Audrey Hepburn played another "supposed lesbian" in 'The Children's Hour', so she may have sympathized with that..?
She should have become a MD. Yes, they even had women DDSs in "the olden days".
"A stitch in time, saves your embarrassment." (RIP Ms. Penny LoBello)