Memoirs_of_a_Nun

Denis Diderot’s Memoirs of a Nun serves as a template for pre-revolutionary France. The book demonstrates the tensions at work between the old guard and Enlightenment thinkers. The Catholic Church and its leaders are representative of the oppressive institutions and often tyrannical leaders of the Old Regime in France. The novel’s protagonist, Susan serves as the model for those disempowered, disenchanted, and otherwise negatively affected by that Regime. Her struggle to free herself from the mental, emotional, and physical imprisonment she is subjected to display her inclination and determination for rational and natural thought. The Church’s repression of her thoughts and desires are indicative of its detrimental effect and pervasive impact on society as a whole. Understanding the struggle between Susan and the Church help in understanding the ongoing tension between Enlightenment thinking and the oppressive rule of the Old Regime in France prior to the Revolution. Susan’s imprisonment in a convent speaks volumes of the corruptive force the Church and the prevailing social norms of the time had on her family. Her father essentially disowns her, her sisters shun her, and her mother abandons her. That Susan is so poorly treated is through no fault of her own. The illegitimacy of her birth dictates her circumstance. Susan’s mother feels confining her daughter to a convent is the only way to redeem her own infidelity. Furthermore, her mother believes it her only option to avoid the consequential embarrassment it would bring her as well as her family in the eyes of society. Susan makes clear her opposition to life as a nun as she “protested against this strange proposition, and declared roundly that {she} felt in no way drawn towards the cloister” (p.4). Her objections fall upon deaf ears and result in a deep despair as she cries out “I am a wretched girl, whom everyone hates and wants to bury alive here” (p.4). Her mother is unaffected by the deleterious impact on Susan’s emotional state. Thus Diderot makes evidence of the way in which the Church and the social norms of the time succeed in corrupting the mother/daughter relationship as well as the larger family dynamic. Susan is scarcely treated better by Church officials. While she performs her duties as a nun admirably and with exactness, she also makes no secret of her distaste for life in a convent. She feels no calling for it and is continually scolded and punished for not feeling such. Here Diderot’s criticism of French institutions such as the Church are apparent. The Church prevents Susan from exercising her own free will. By disallowing her from pursuing her inner desires they have imprisoned her. The imprisonment is not merely physical, but mental and emotional as well. It is contrary to the ideals of the Enlightenment as it suppresses her natural thought. Furthermore, this kind of repression on behalf of the Church places it in direct opposition to the ideals of the Enlightenment in that it forbids an individual’s right to self-determination. Likewise, the censorship imposed on the nuns within the convent opposed Enlightenment ideals. Just as the French monarchy sought to prohibit ideas critical of its governance so did the Mother Superiors monitor speech and writing unfavorable to their conduct. When Susan asks for extra paper so that she may detail and communicate the abuse she has suffered at Longchamps she is subsequently reproached by her Mother Superior when she cannot account for its usage. She is subjected to interrogation and yet more abuse when she refuses to tell of its whereabouts. The Mother Superior claims “The interests of the House necessitate my knowing them” in regard to the contents of the papers that Susan will not reveal (p.55). This comment can be related to the way the Old Regime felt about writers who espoused the views of Enlightenment thinking. Indeed the authorities in Normandy were warned of new literature that in “Reading these bad books produces a disturbed spirit among the citizens and provokes them constantly to shake the yoke of submission, of obedience, and of respect” (p.116 Schecter). While the contents of Susan’s letters surely differed from the texts of Enlightenment writings, the Old Regime’s reactions to them both correlated closely. The Old Regime’s response was to suppress dissidence in each scenario. What the Old Regime failed to consider in both cases is that the disturbance of spirit amongst it’s subjects was a result and response to its own repression, rigidity and inflexibility. The Church as an institution systematically warped the minds of many of the nuns. This is never more evident as in the scene where an exorcism is performed on a perfectly sane and rational Susan. The nuns in this scene display a sadistic pack mentality with the cruel and harsh treatment inflicted upon Susan. Diderot thus demonstrates how the repression in convents can make otherwise virtuous people bad. The Mother Superior at Longchamps with her power basically unchecked, shows the potential for despotism and corruption. According to enlightenment ideals people are good in nature, but corrupted by society’s institutions. Those involved in the exorcism exemplify the extent to which the Church could so thoroughly distort one’s morality. In addition to being subject to continual physical abuse at Longchamps, Susan was also sexually abused at Saint Eutropia. While her treatment improved in many ways at her new convent, she fell victim to a mother superior who abused her position of power with her sexual advances toward Susan. Here Diderot paints a picture of a mother superior who is sympathetic in the sense that she is a victim of the Church’s oppression, but bad because she uses her authority to sexually abuse Susan. Diderot, in accordance with Enlightenment ideals appears to suggest that the Church’s repression of natural sexual desires have manifested themselves in the form of perverted and distorted thoughts and actions. A recurring theme in the book is the repression of natural thought, of inner desires, the degradation and/or elevation of individual according to circumstance. People’s lives seemed to be predetermined by their circumstance of birth. Individuals were too often denied the path, profession, and life for which they were naturally inclined. Enlightenment ideals would have Susan employed in a role more suitable for her temperament. They would have allotted Susan the free will to choose a more agreeable course for her life. Under the oppression of the institutions of Old Regime France she is forced to succumb to the will of the Church. Her place in society was determined not by merit or ability, but by unjust social mores prevalent during the time. This often seemed the story of pre-revolutionary France in a broader sense as well. People’s places and roles in society have less to do with their own merits and desires and more to do with the will of French institutions. The net result of this was, according to Diderot’s implications, a high-level of corruption and injustice in society. The rigid social structure in place often afforded undeserving people lives of comfort and power while casting those more deserving into a life of degradation and hopelessness. Members of the aristocracy needed not display competence to retain their privileged social status. Likewise many members of the clergy needed not display morality to assure the security of their power. The situations they were born into act as their guarantors in this regard. In conclusion it appears that Diderot’s chief criticism of the Church and other French institutions were the limitations that they placed on individual choice. In Memoirs of a Nun he makes his criticisms through Susan and the abuse she is subjected to. Her ordeals are a representation of the widespread injustices people suffer at the hand of Old Regime institutions. Her good nature, determination to overcome oppression, and inclination for rational thought represent the Enlightenment ideals that opposed those institutions.