A Test of Faith

A Test of Faith Have you ever been tempted to do something that seemed fishy? Dora Alonso, the author of “Sophie and the Angel,” developed a story about an old lady who because of her loneliness and religion goes through a test of faith. Sophie was an old lady, she was lonely, and she was sexually repressed. This leads her to start to have hallucinations about an angel. We can assume the angel is an evil spirit, someone like the devil. Because Sophie was so religious, Sophie saw the angel as a good person who wanted to be her friend, when in reality he was the devil who wanted to question her faith. The story begins by describing Sophie. She was the last in line in her family. Alonso describes her as an old lady, past her eighty years of age, who was discreet and wrapped herself in dark clothes. Her life and innovation became forgotten although she refused to take notice. Her small figure was practically invisible to her neighbors (18). She lived in a hillside home, which had been in her family for many years, with her servant named Agueda. Agueda was the only one there to pull her back to the real world when Sophie was wrapped up in her church activities. Then, Agueda passed away and Sophie was completely alone; except for her black cat. Sophie started to hallucinate the night that Agueda passed. According to cliffnotes.com, people in their late adulthood might go through some issues such as physical deterioration, conflicts between themselves, and loneliness if there aren’t any more family members around. I think that any person her age, and lonely as she is, would start thinking of looking out for other ways to not feel old or lonely. Sophie’s way was to hallucinate someone she could trust. Sophie feels lonely because she is the last one in her family and she does not have any more friends after her servant Agueda passed.
The only other living thing in her home was her black cat; which for the superstitious symbolizes bad luck. Alonso describes how her

Cited: CliffsNotes.com. Development in Late Adulthood. 3 Oct 2010 . Correas, De Zapata, Celia. Short Stories by Latin American Women: the Magic and the Real. Houston, TX: Arte Publico, 1990. Print.