Weil was first visited by a supernatural good while reciting this poem in an almost unbearable degree of pain and suffering. Even after the experience Weil chose to discredit art on the path to the truth. She believed that is was what our soul comprehended from art that was important. When we view art we take away the feeling that shines through the piece; this is the order pleasing our soul. To Weil this is the light of G-d.
Art seemed almost scarce in the movie Babette's Feast. Any art shown from within the village was that of spiritual guides or other religious figures. Following behind in Weil's beliefs the people in the village did not seem to be too motivated or into the creation of art. Babette was an artist in the film. As one of the head culinary chefs from France Babette was exiled from the country. Babette traveled to the coast where the two sisters resided. Upon her arrival she requested the chance to become a paid servant for them. Since they could not afford her services she decided to do the exchange for free. Babette served them well for a long time but her artistic abilities still laid scrunched up inside of her. It was just Babette's good luck that a friend had faithfully renewed a lottery ticket she had acquired in France for her each year. When notice came of her winnings Babette decided to redirect her repressed feelings and spend her earnings creating the masterpiece she so yearned to share with those she loved, a formal French feast. Simone Weil would have condoned this act because she believed that "We have to bring into the light of open day the monsters within us; and not be afraid of what we can find within ourselves; that we can find all sorts of monsters there. So we can conclude that we are responsible for our evil as well as our good thoughts What part does the "self" play in repressed thoughts? It brings about in fact the act of repression. The essence of repressed tendencies is lying; the essence of this lying is the repression of which one is aware.
The quote by General Loewenhielm in the story of Babette's feast summarizes this point, "Grace, my friends, demands nothing from us but that we shall await it with confidence and acknowledge it in gratitude- (Yancey 1997). ...