MovieChat Forums > The Nun's Story (1959) Discussion > What was with her passion for Black Afri...

What was with her passion for Black Africans?

posted 10 years ago by bron-tay
3 replies | jump to latest

I've known white European and British women like this, and I must say they're quite a Type. It made sense to me with the women I knew, simply because I got to know them, but it's never explained with Gabrielle. Why did she so want to work with the Africans? Why was she crushed when she was told she would work at the white hospital in the Congo?

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[–] cosmic_surveyor 10 years ago

Just as an evangelist would rather travel to People's Republic of Korea, pass out Bibles and risk imprisonment, Sister Luke felt she would do the most good at the native hospital given her training, skills, knowledge and expertise.

At the white hospital, the infirmed would be better nourished with stronger immune systems. More than likely, all they needed is a 'babysitter'. She would be overqualified, if pride allows her to claim.

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[–] shirleyp92 10 years ago

I like to think that, in contemporary times, Sister Luke's passion for this was on par with traveling for the Peace Corps or working with 'Doctors Without Borders' or even with nurses/doctors/journalists that go to war zones; this is all considered as more alluring than, let's say working at an office. I like to think that Sister Luke just wanted to make a real difference, she's living in Belgium, and the opportunity just happened to be nursing and surgery work in the Belgian Congo.

[–] Venus-25 9 years ago

I agree with the previous comments and will add that she wanted to get as far away from her past secular life as she could. The challenge of taking care of natives whose language she would have to learn and who needed to be taught (or so Europeans thought) would keep her busy enough to forget what she left behind.

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