Major Themes
Werfel presents Bernadette as a young girl of artless simplicity and sincere piety who is regarded as stupid by those who don't know her well. He also depicts her as strong-willed and determined to carry out the wishes of the "Lady of Massabielle" who she alone can see. Her fight, to have the Lady's existence and requests acknowledged and fulfilled, is played out against the larger canvas of French politics and the contemporary social climate. Explanatory digressions illustrate what Werfel perceives as an ongoing conflict between a human need to believe in the supernatural or in anomalous phenomena; a true religion, which should not address such "popular" manifestations; and the ideas of the Enlightenment and of atheism.
Read more about this topic: The Song Of Bernadette (novel)
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