Larsen, D. (2005). The Tulip and the Pope. New York, NY: Vintage Books.
ISBN-10: 0375712909
ISBN-13: 9780375712906
•Plot Summary
At nineteen years of age, Deborah Larsen was in a taxi on the way to the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary to become a nun. She was smoking her final two cigarettes, and along with her friends, Tessa and Kathy, gave the last of her money to the driver as a tip. Born and raised Catholic, though of German and French descent, not Irish like most of her friends, Deborah has been thinking about this moment for a long time. She has always been fond of attending mass, and going through the rituals of her Church, especially alongside her mother. She has read, or acted in a play about, every nun on which there is a story based. Her favorite, is The Nun's Story, and it is to Sister Luke that she constantly compares herself throughout this memoir. When in times of doubt, concern or confusion, she wonders to herself what Sister Luke would do, and tries to replicate that behavior. Her references, however, are highly romanticized. As a child, she had played at Mass, although she was usually cast at an altar boy. Withdrawals from cigarettes begin to bother her, but she manages to get through this because of her allergy medication, although that makes her consistently sleepy. When she and her fellow postulants receive their list of required clothing, and then their new capes, she tells of how Gabrielle in The Nun's Story had the same sort of cloak. It was a story she would never read again, because private novels had to be left at home, and she says she thought nothing of it. Or that she thought, she thought nothing of it. Much of the rest of the autobiography is similar in the ways doubt or questioning sneaks into the obedient behavior she begins to view as a competition, although she will not admit to it being due to pride, since nuns are not supposed to feel that way. Her feelings creep in though, needs, and wants. She covets the time when she can wear the green sweater in the ice room, because it's not the black or white crispness like everyone else wears. When given the directions for positions to be taken during prayer, dinner, etc, she wonders, if any one is wondering to themselves, "When is this class going to be over?" or "Isn't it time to go home now?" Every element of her dress is described, and how basins and cups are taken to the bathrooms for brushing teeth, of nightcaps that aren't actually slept in (just used to cover short hair the stylish BVMs might not want to think about). As Christmas, she is pleased to see that not only are the nun's rooms stylish in the non medieval simplicity, but the chapel is decorated with just the right number of poinsettia plants. Sister Mary Deborah, now a novice, is convinced taking a vow of poverty will be easy, because everything was provided by the community. Obedience would also "be a snap" because the Pope was infallible, and one did what the Church proscribed. Finally, chastity would be easy, because what man could compare with Jesus, what woman could hope for a better man as a husband than the one of whom they could only touch a hem of his robes, because he had not yet ascended? Still, doubts begin to set in, especially about her own behavior and worth. After taking on the Black Veil, Deborah is sent to a two-year college in cohort with the convent to earn an education, and goes on to work in Chicago her four-year teaching degree. She is exposed to the outside, for the first time in almost five years. Her mother passes away due to cancer, she is the only woman amid six men in her teaching program, exposed to an unethical Catholic professor who calls her at the convent, and an ethical atheist professor who simply likes her writing without attempting to make unseemly personal contact. Finally, after wrestling with her conscious, trying to reconcile herself to the facts of the new laws in the Catholic faith, and just days before entering the BVMs permanently, Deborah chooses to return to the layman's life. Deborah has begun to wonder what it would be like to fall in love, to be kissed, to have sex, and to have children. She is taking by a fellow Sister to buy clothing, and even lipstick, taking a train with a fellow former-sister. Moving back in with her father, she has to learn again how to be on the outside, and purchases a copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover, which she finds amusing in some respects, and illuminating in others. She remembers the large tulip growing in her neighbors yard that was so sizable that her head could fit just inside its petals. She writes a poem about a woman returning her ring to the Pope, as he kneels, because the "tulip shrugged off the catechism". It extended itself, and Presence was felt, and it nothing to do with positions, or being too holy.
•Critical Evaluation
Sometimes amusing, and other times bittersweet, account of a young woman still only just beginning to understand what that means. She is proud without realizing it, romantic without having a solid basis for her fancies, and must learn what really being obedient, virtuous, and humble are all about, on her own.
•Reader’s Annotation
Lovely, full of information on Catholic rites and instruction.
•Information about the author
Today, Deborah Larsen is married to David Cowan, and the couple have two children. They live outside Gettysburg, PA., and Deborah at the nearby college. She had written two other books, The White (a novel), and Stitching Porcelain: After Matteo Ricci in Sixteenth-Century China.
•Genre
Autobiography
•Curriculum Ties
History
Social Science
Religion
•Booktalking Ideas
Catholicism, convents
•Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 11-12/Ages 16-19
•Challenge Issues
N/A
•Why did you include this book in you’re the titles you selected?
When I was very young, I wanted to be a priest. Of course, I wasn't male and my family wasn't Catholic, so this was out of the question. The Catholic religion, and its rites, have always fascinate me, as has the idea of entering a convent. As the memoir is by a fellow Deborah, I thought this might be an interesting read, and it was. It was also informative, and comfortable in a way I can't really describe.
