dowery??
what is the dowery money sister lukes father left and was returned at the end??
shareIf you're asking about the amount of the dowry, it isn't specified in the film. I haven't read the book, so I don't know if it is made clear there.
If you're asking what a dowry is, it's a sum of money, real estate or goods that used to be offered by a bride's family as her contribution to the beginning of the marriage, when few women had educations, careers or the prospect of a career. Catholic nuns become the bride of Christ, thus the dowry from her family. Evidently, the practice...at least in that order...was to return the asset if the Sister left the convent. I would presume that it was returned for the same reason that it was originally offered--to allow for a monetary "cushion" to establish a new life.
I don't know if any cultures or religious orders use the dowry system, today.
I don't know if your closing remark (about whether or not the dowry system is still in use) is meant to include the secular or not. However, please be aware that dowries are still very, very much a part of many cultures. Please be further aware that in India, Pakistan, Iran, etc. women are still being murdered by their husbands and/or their husband's family if the proffered dowry is either not forthcoming as promised, or is later considered to have been insufficient.
That's enlightened, isn't it?!
TjBruce
The dowry system in India contributes to females being less valuted than males. They say having a daughter is like watering your neighbor's garden. It's a system that needs to be left in the past. IMO, parents should just have no more than a couple kids, pay for their college education whether they are male or female, then let the kids save up and pay for their own weddings and marriage assets.
shareI have read that the grooms family can ask for more and more. If the bride's family can not provide, she suddenly has an accident-usually a fire "cooking accident"
shareDowries are not so much a part of religious orders today. But in the time the movie portrays, a nun's dowry was held in "escrow" as depicted in the film. That is, the order held the sum of money, and could use the income from it (interest) but they could not use the principle during the nun's lifetime lest she leave the order and it needed to go back to her.
She might leave the religious life altogether (like Sr. Luke) and it would go back to her. Or she might go to another order and it would go to that order with her. THat's less usual. But occasionally a nun would leave one order for another (say, another that was stricter).
Typically there was a minimum amount a girl's family would be expected to provide. But if they were very poor it would be waived. And if they were wealthy like Sr. Luke's father, they might provide a larger amount.
Thank you all for the great explanations of the dowry. I've known the significance of it, in increasing degrees, over my life. *** Don't read the rest of this message if it would spoil the book for you*** (I tried to create a new subject line but I failed).
*** Spoiler Alert *** ***Spolier Alert*** ***Spoiler Alert*** ***Spoiler Ale
May I point out that in the novel Gabby was privately mortified to end her life as a nun with an exchange of money. That's why, in the movie, we see her start to walk out of the office without taking the money. From the narrative in the book we know that she simply takes it as an act of obedience. The end of the book also describes Gabby's walk from the hospital where she worked to an affiliated house where she changed her clothes and left (in the film she was directed to a designated room in the hospital in order to do that). During her walk to the affiliated house, she wanted to take the money from her pocket and drop it into the gutter but some neighborhood residents were up (it was early in the morning) and she didn't want them to think she was being disrespectful to her habit. Also in the book, as Gabby changes into the street clothes she painstakingly folds the pieces of the habit according to the rules as a final act of obedience.
Read the book. If you love the movie you'll love the book.
John Martin, 45, Texas
Does the book end like the movie with the closing shot of her leaving? Or does it go on to give the reader a clue as to what pursuits Gabby goes on to? It seemed in the movie that she would go on with nursing outside the convent, perhaps helping the resistance movement. I've read some criticism about her leaving the order, but IMO, she is actually being more truthful to herself and her devotion to God by realizing that a nun's life and the expectations, expected of her, she could not fulfill. Actually, she is still IMO a deeply devoted Christian and very spiritual. Her difficulties were only in the ability to follow the strict order (guidelines) expected of her. I guess she wished to serve God in her own way. That being for example when in conversation with a patient, to listen to their needs and help them instead of cutting such communication short when the five bells rung indicating the hours of silence.
I have great admiration for anyone who could live their life with such strict structure and devotion, but devotion comes in many forms, and IMO Gabby was a very devoted individual whether or not she could leave behind those wordly pursuits expected of her.
The end of the book gives a similar poingant portrait of Gabby leaving the convent and walking into town to attend to the the practical matters of starting her new life. The discription is brief but very thoughtful and powerful. Kathryn Hulme wrote a wonderful book. The end narrative gives a slight hint as to Gabby's intended plans but it mainly leaves Gabby's future experiences to the imagination of the reader, just like the movie.
Have a Happy New Year
John Martin, 46
I had no idea dowrys were part of becoming a nun in Europe during that period.
share