The Sound of Music and Maria’s Vocation

The Sound of Music is a musical about a woman who was on her way to belonging herself in the church until an opportunity came up that changed her life. Her name was Maria von Trapp. She was raised a socialist and atheist when she was little but was then inspired to be a nun by a priest. She pursued her calling by joining the Nonnberg Abbey which is a convent. Later on, during her time in the convent, she decided to leave for a year to be a governess for the Trapp villa for the captain’s daughter. “After the first year, the children asked their father to do something to make their governess stay. They even suggested that he should marry her. 'I don't even know if she likes me!' was the captain's answer.” (“Maria Kutschera”).

More on the movie The Sound of Music like I said is a musical and also it’s for the most part of the movie is Maria and the captain’s kids singing and having fun. But it wasn’t all fun and games because when the kids first met Maria they were skeptical of her at first when they were introduced to her. After their meeting they started to like her and then they started to do all types of activities and singing with Maria. At one part of the movie, Maria made some play clothes for the children out of some old drapes or curtains and the captain which is the dad saw the kids climbings tree and he didn’t like that. After that at villa the captain sees the kids and Maria returning from a boat ride and they tip over and fall in the water. 

The captain at this point is mad at the fact that the are wet and dirty and also that they are wearing the play clothes that Maria made for them. So he told his kids to go change their clothes in the villa and then tells Maria to return back to the abbey. Then he starts to hear singing from the house so he goes to the house and finds out that the kids are the ones who are singing so he joins them in singing. 

Then Maria quietly walks up to the door when the captain is singing with them and he sees her so she starts to walk upstairs to her room but he goes and stops to tell her to stay since he hasn’t sung with his kids in years and he apologizes to her for what he said to her outside. After all this, he signs them in the fest that is coming up which was the Salzburg Fest so they can sing in the fest. But shortly after he then turns the offer down since he doesn’t the children to sing in the public. Then after all this, the captain and Maria fall in love and they try to get away since the captain got a commission to join the German Navy.

Now about Maria’s vocation. At first, she wanted to be a nun which is why she joined the abbey but that later changed. She then for a year, which turned out to be longer went to be a governess for the Trapp villa which she enjoyed obviously. This eventually led to her having a connection with the kids that the captain was fond with and she also developed a connection with the captain as well. She developed such a good connection with the kids that they asked their dad which the captain to marry since was towards the end of the intended year. Since the captain saw how good she was with his kids he wanted her to stay and even led her to become the love of his life and also the captain was also the love of her life too. So this all means that her vocation wasn’t really to be a nun but to be the lover of the captain and the mother of the captain’s kids since she was so good with the kids and this made the captain happy with her care with them.

More on her vocation, how did she live a life of service in her vocations? First, she lived a good life of service since she was on her way to becoming a nun so she was already on the path for a great life of service. Then she tried to be a governess for the Trapps which turned out to be life-changing for her. Secondly, since she was the governess for the captain’s kids she was taking care and teaching the kids how to sing and all that which would fall under her living a life of service since her vocation changed from being a nun to being the caregiver of the kids. Since she stayed with the captain and his kids she would be caring for the kids throughout her life which would the live a life of service she would live and would be fine with it since she enjoyed it a lot.

Now another movie that we watched was Life is Beautiful. It takes places in Italy right before world war II. It is about a guy whose name is Guido who works for his uncle who owns a restaurant. Guido is a Jewish man who is very fun and has a strong sense of humor. While he is in Italy he finds himself falling in love with this lady whose name is Dora. Dora is a teacher at an elementary school and she has had a few run-ins with Guido. But she has a fiance who has an engagement party at the restaurant that Guido works at and she ends up leaving with Guido. Guido convinced her to with him on his uncle’s horse that he had and his fiance which also has had a few run-ins with Guido but he is different from Dora since he dislikes Guido. Her fiance doesn’t like him since Guido has had some incidents with him. 

One of those incidents is that he dropped a plant on his head when he was trying to get a license for a bookstore from him. Turns out for him he found out that he is the fiance of Dora and he tries to avoid him at all costs. Guido also has another friend who is a doctor who helps him out dearly later on in the movie. After all this Guido and Dora get married and has a kid who is a boy and his name is Joshua. Later on, Guido and his son work at his book store that he acquired and Dora’s mother shows up to tell Joshua that his grandma is gonna show up to his birthday that is gonna be in a couple of days.

Then when it’s the day of the birthday Dora and her mother step out for something and they go back to the house to see it ransacked and Guido and Joshua are missing. Dora instantly knew that they were on their way to the train station to board the train that goes to the concentration camps since Guido was Jewish. When she got there the train was about to leave and she tells one of the German soldiers to stop the train and to let her on. Guido’s uncle was on the train also and when the train stopped Dora and Guido’s uncle was on different cars than Guido and his son. Since Guido knows what is happening he just tells his son that they are gonna go out to play a game where they can win a tank if they get 1,000 points. 

When they get to the camp Guido then finds out that the males and the females get separated. Later on, the Germans kill the elders and the kids first which leads to the death of Guido’s uncle. But since Guido’s son hates taking showers he avoided the “showers” and is the only kid left which his dad teaches him to hide in the bunks during the day. 

Later on, he realizes that the doctor is one of the Germans and he tries to ask him for help in which later on he helps Guido a lot. The doctor then gets Guido a job as a waiter and his son sneaks as one of the german kids and gets him well fed. Then Guido tries to make a plan to escape but then dies at the end when the Germans get corrupted. But his son's dream which is to ride a tank comes true since the Americans rescue the jews and he gets to ride on the tank. Then on the way, he spots his mom and runs to her and they both find out that Guido dies.

Guido’s vocation was to become a father, have his own book store, and ensure the safety of his son and Dora during their time in the Concentration Camp. Also, he wanted to ensure that his son doesn’t realize that he is in a Concentration Camp. Also, he does this since he is living a life of service by doing the best that he can to keeping them safe. An example of this is him telling his son they’re playing a game to win a tank. Another example is that he gets on the intercom to talk to Dora and giving her words of encouragement and showing his love to her and letting hee hear the sound of her son’s voice for her well being. Lastly, a way that he showed that he lived a life of service is by him sacrificing his life to try and get him, his son, and his wife out the camp but dying in the process. Even though he didn’t make his son and wife made plus his son had dream fulfilled by having a ride in a tank at the end of the movie.