Rosena on The Mountain by Rene Depestre

   Rosena on The Mountain 

 This story tackles the colonial objectification of women and how the ideas and perspectives of men often took precedence over female views. "You scorn the fleeting temptations of the flesh"(125), this line sums up much of the premise of the story in that two religious men are faced with temptations of the lust of the flesh and are forced to confront this. Alain and Father Mulligan are held as pious men of god that seem in many instances to have the restraint of an elementary school student. Alain is young and in training and is faced with many temptations in life so it makes sense to me that Alain would make a mistake. Father Mulligan is a dedicated and tenured aging priest that should be able to control himself around women. If Mulligan knew he couldn't handle his impulses he shouldn't have taken Rosena with him on his expedition to find himself in the forest. It doesn't help that Rosena is interested in the two men and is actively tempting them but they should have faced temptations like this before and been able to stand up to a servant. "Outrageously swinging her paganism in front of the holy sacrament"(127), this line shows how serious Alain and Father Mulligan take their vow, so seriously that anything sexual in nature is considered "pagan". I think this is an interesting perspective and one put there again for men who can't handle their impulses. You label things you fear pagan or evil and that's clearly what Mulligan and Alain have to do to control themselves. 

    "A vicious had given him such a violent kick in the tender parts that he was in convalescence"(137), I think there is a certain irony in this. Mulligan couldn't control his worldly desires so naturally the universe controlled them for him. As for the fate of Alain I think he was better off finding life somewhere less restrictive. I don't believe in the objectification of women and the restrictions on life the way Alain and Mulligan did but if you are going to take such a vow you should be so loyal as to honor it. Where religious instructions begin to rub people the wrong way is in their hypocrisy, in pretending to be holier than thou but in reality being more morally corrupt than the people they persecute. This entire story is about men who preach sex is evil that can't handle themselves when temptation arises. 

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