How Vianne Rocher Resists Lansquenet in the Novel ‘Chocolat’ By Joanne Harris 

The story Chocolat by Harris travels through the time of Lent and Easter. During this period, a priestess, Vianne Rocher, invites her powers gained from the ancient Mayan culture and tradition with a view to redefine the theological framework of Lansquenet’s community and thus, liberate it.

The priestess Vianne Rocher and her six year old daughter arrive in the French village of Lansquenet then rent an old shop close to a catholic church. ‘She turns the old shop into a café’ with chocolate being the major confectionery Harris (2000). Throughout the story Vienne appears resistant to many societal aspects and norms of the village which actually creates the conflict upon which the novel is based.

Though Lansquenet is strongly Christian, Vianne finds nothing strange with having a child out of the wedlock. She does not go the church since she sees herself as the ‘good one’ or present herself as a faithful in order to conform to the norms of the village which is a great resistance to this exceptionally committed Roman Catholic community. As if that is not enough, she opens a shop of alluring chocolate at the start of lent near the church which is a constant temptation to the fasting believers. Moreover, she sets a chocolate festival on the Easter Sunday a move that puts the church to test and further challenges it to a duel.  

 According to Roman Catholic Christian mythology, Easter is a period of warming up to the renewal of life following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore, ‘Easter represents hopelessness, gloom, suffering and deprivation’ a view held by the priest and Lansquenet. Contrary, Vianne’s doctrine calls for the enjoyment of life in its entirety: resisting sorrow, mournisng and hopelessness. She thus stands in for the most powerful tool of all times: change.  

Traditionally, Christians, both in Lansquenet and globally, brace themselves for Easter as a mark of the resurrection of the beloved Jesus who died for their own sins by fasting and prayerful meditation.  By the help of her prowess in the Ancient Mayan traditions, Vianne invents, on the Easter Sunday, an alternative celebration dumped as the ‘chocolate festival’ which she believes will provide the Lansquenet people with an opportunity to warm up for the renewal of life, and thus create an ample ground for ushering in change.   

The place of Christianity in Lansquenet is under threat as its ideologies are being deconstructed by Vianne's chocolate ceremony. Though the priest’s (Francis Reynaud) sermons portray Vianne’s rituals as unholy, his allegations seem to hold no water when the good deeds of Vianne’s magic to Lansquenet are put to mind.  As the line reads ‘some people are unreadable; unreachable, Francis Reynaud is one of these’ clearly shows the adamant nature of the priest and the Lansquenet village that has not changed much after a hundred years, Harris (2000 p.84)

 There is a belief in Lansquenet that only men should serve the supernatural being however, father Henry has to deal with a Priestess Vianne. She invites the locals to the shop to spin a wheel that has strange motifs and designs that determines their fate.  Following the realization of a chocolate oriented remedy for nearly every form of malady, her confectionary shop becomes an oasis of joy. For instance, Caro’s friend confesses and I quote ‘Vianne can help me… the rest can wait till morning’ Harris (2000 p. 226)

Being a hereditary priestess, Vianne Rocher has a ritualistic elixir that produces an unparalleled ecstatic feeling. Her settlement in Lansquenet is purely a missionary work that aims at bringing happiness, hope and, above all, ‘conscious hospitality’ amongst the locals. She takes the community by storm with her new form of freedom that seems to solve all existing problems. However, Vianne has to face the authorities who perceive her as ‘a stranger who is busy deconstructing the society’s norms and ethics’.

The Lansquenet’s Francis Reynaud, who acts as both the priest and the self-appointed moral editor, sees Vianne’s conduct as one that supersedes the moral fabric of Lansquenet. Consequently, he engineers a hate campaign with a view to kick her out of the French village. Vianne succeeds in her resistance since on Easter Eve, as Reynaud is destroying her chocolate shop, a spatter of chocolate lands on his lips thus prematurely breaking his Lent fast. He thus succumbs to Vianne’s magical powers. This part of the story does not only represent the change of the priest’s ideologies but also those of the entire Lansquenet’s community.

REFERENCE

Harris, J. (2000). Chocolat. USA: Penguin Group Publishers.