Did you ever find a book you couldn't criticize? I mean, not even a little bit? For me, Brideshead Revisited is that book. It's so clever and multilayered that Catholics love it as a Catholic novel, while pagans miss the point entirely and think that Waugh is defending their camp. This is my favorite scene. I didn't really think about it until I saw the miniseries, which is so beautiful, and which I also couldn't criticize. It's a dinner scene and the conversation is between Cordelia and Brideshead Flyte, sister and brother. To see the expression on Cordelia's face at the end of this exchange... that split second taught me a lot about obedience.
"My sister Cordelia’s last report said that she was not only the worst girl in the school, but the worst there had ever been in the memory of the oldest nun. "
That’s because I refused to be an Enfant de Marie. Reverend Mother said that if I didn’t keep my room tidier I couldn’t be one one, so I said, well, I won’t be one, and I don’t believe our Blessed Lasy cares two hoots whether I put my gym shoes on the left or the right of my dancing shoes. Reverend Mother was livid."
"Our Lady cares about obedience."
Cordelia, I believe, was a saint. This is a video of her (as played by Phoebe Nicholls) and Charles Ryder (Jeremy Irons).
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