Reflection Paper – Isak Dinesen

Karen Blixen loved to entertain others with her stories which would often be woven from nothing more than a listener’s proposed sentence. Later, Blixen would write stories with characters based loosely on her own life experiences under the pen name of Isak Dinesen. In two of her more well-known stories, Out of Africa and Babette’s Feast, Dinesen wrote of characters that were able to find the positive even while finding themselves in the bleakest of situations. This harkened back to Dinesen’s life experiences, maturity, and wisdom gained through her own adversity.

In Out of Africa, Dinesen wove story of a young woman who traveled to Africa to marry a friend. This marriage of convenience would give her a title and her bridegroom would no longer be forced to rely on others for a living. Upon arriving in Africa Karen is only concerned about her possessions and what her home would look like. This portrayal of Karen as ruthless and spoiled would be replaced with a far wiser person who survived life’s obstacles. As the story progresses Karen realizes the future she painted for herself would not be the rosy one she anticipated. Her husband made decisions regarding her money without her approval. She contracted syphilis which prevented her from having children, yet was able to find fulfillment in motherhood through the tribal children living on her estate. Karen’s barn burned and left her destitute, forced to sell everything she once cherished to pay for her journey home. In Africa Karen found true love and happiness with Denys then suffered heartbreaking loss at his untimely death. One of these incidents might force a person to crumble under the pressure of loss, but in this loss Karen found inner strength and a will to survive.

Kare...

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...eople as she was an artist in her own right. Her art was in the creation of the meals she prepared for others to enjoy. Babette knew as long as she had her art she would never be poor for she would always have the gift to transform people through her food. She realized that a true artist only wants to be allowed to give their very best as Babette was able to do with the meals she was allowed to prepare using her talent.

In her stories Isak Dinesen created characters that her audience could find commonality with. She gave each of her characters adversity in their lives, but instead of allowing them to crumble under the weight of their misfortunes she allows them to shed their cares and see the beauty and joy in life. The characters are portrayed not as being weighed down by obstacles that block their way, but rather as always able to find their own silver lining.