Lib’s attitude towards Dr. McBreaty
Liz is a well-educated nurse who attended prominent learning institutions in Europe. When the Catholic clergy and prominent local people recruit her to work in a local village, she fails to comprehend how she will cope with illiterate people with inferior culture. The main task of Lib is to establish whether Anna is a miraculous child who survives without food or she is a fraud. Lib works with a village doctor called Dr. McBrearty. According to Lib, Dr. McBrearty is dolefully incompetent. Lib thinks she will outsmart everyone in the village and emerge the best. Paradoxically, later Lib realizes that competence in work is not based on superiority in culture and education because she relies on the experience of Dr. McBrearty while making her recommendations. Additionally, Lib accepts that no matter how intelligent she is, she cannot work in isolation as she thought. Therefore, she works closely with Dr. McBrearty, whom she initially considered woefully incompetent.
The paradox of scientific knowledge
Lib is one person who believes that all problems in life can be solved through science. When she arrives at her village workstation for the first time, she is sure she outsmarts everybody because of her superior scientific knowledge. Lib believes that she can use her scientific knowledge to become the first person to discover the mystery behind Ann's survival. According to Lib, it will not take her long to discover that Anna is a Fraud because she believes it is scientifically impossible for an individual to survive for months without eating. When Lib puts measures to ensure no one brings Ann food, she is shocked after several days to discover that she is still alive and strong. Paradoxically, Lib is forced to put scientific knowledge aside and try to get into Anna's mind to comprehend how she survives without eating. At last, Lib accepts that science is not the solution to every solution because other challenges require deep thought.
The satire of the clergy
Anna is a mysterious child because no one understands how she survives without eating. Ann is a staunch Catholic and fasts most of her life for personal reasons. When the villagers discover that she has never eaten, she tells the clergy that it is a miracle because she is starving for a purpose. Despite the church knowing that Jesus Christ fasted for forty days and survived, the clergy doubts Anna. The Catholic priest and a nun seek the help of a trained nurse to monitor Anna and prove that she is a fraud. Consequently, it is satirical for the clergy to doubt the church's teachings, which clearly illustrates the possibility of one fasting for several days.
