TRANSFORMATION IN "BABETTE'S FEAST"

            The theme of transformation appears increasingly throughout the course of Babette’s Feast.  The people of Berlevaag are highly religious and they reject the concept of pleasure because of their fundamentalist Puritan-like ways.  They shun luxury and thus, have never really enjoyed the food that they ate, something which Babette values immensely.  Over the course of the meal that Babette prepares, we see a huge transformation in the way Martine and Phillipa look at food, and on the broader scale, life.  The feast leads to interaction among the guests and the well-cooked meal is overwhelmingly enjoyable.  The narrator of the story explains, "Usually in Berlevaag people did not speak much while they were eating.  But somehow this evening tongues were loosened” (page 56).  The transformation that Babette’s 10,000 franc feast brings about is that of realization; the realization that enjoyment is okay and should not be feared/avoided.