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Originally Posted by Catlady
Smythe's miracle is especially eye-popping--if it's Sarah's kiss that caused it, she had the power to perform a miracle while still alive. That's a rarity even for the most celebrated saints.
But why? Sarah had already renounced Maurice; I could see more of a real struggle if she'd found religion and then realized it meant ending the affair--that seems more in the Augustinian pattern. Maurice seemed to need to work on morality and decency more than on belief; he was quite the nasty little man, and belief alone wouldn't make him less nasty.
I could understand struggle to, say, decide to follow a religious vocation; I could understand struggle to announce or abide by one's belief when it's dangerous, as in the case of martyrs. But I have a hard time with so much angst over a personal decision about religion, a decision that doesn't have any adverse personal consequences.
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Yes! I have to agree. It’s all so skin deep! What new element of growth does Sarah’s conversion provide? She still feels desperate, trapped and wants to die because she can’t have Maurice.
Then we’re led to believe that Maurice is now struggling with belief. But we see no growth, no change in behaviour.
If the book is really about a compelling religious struggle, why is there no personal development / transformation? It’s added nothing - both remain unchanged.
Issybird, I absolutely agree with your point about the diversity of people’s religious experience. Very true!
That said, to me, the more I think about it, it seems like Greene has intentionally written a critique of religion. Which is a perfectly valid subject for his book. I think I was thrown off and judged the book more harshly because I was expecting it to be something different than that.
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Postscript) Just to explain why, I was really taken aback when Maurice put his hand on that woman’s knee in the car on their way to the cremation. I found it one of the most powerful scenes in the book. Grieving people do seek solace in sex, but Maurice wasn’t drowning in sorrow, and wasn’t the least interested in her. It was so blatant and defiant, it felt like Greene was saying directly to the reader “See? No change! Nothing to see here.”.