Travel around the Mediterranean world in the Middle Ages and Renaissance was driven by several factors, trade, warfare, and religious pilgrimage. the main character Kempe finds the holy sites so powerful because she feels that she has a connection to them. she can see different events very vividly as is she is reliving them, possibly because of this connection, she also feels the same suffering and pain that Christ experienced. I find this to be very interesting, She feels so close to christ that she feels the same pain he felt. She becomes so emotionally involved that she weeps and even thrashes around. There is also extreme detailing of her reactions to the different holy sites she visits, the text describes how Kempe’s “countrymen” constantly reject her during the pilgrimage. When this happens, strangers of different cultural areas help are nice to her and help her. For example, when she visits Mount Quarentyne where Jesus fasted for 40 days, she asks for help climbing up the mountain, and those from her area refuse. Kempe is able to spend time and share in religious experiences with people of different cultures because of the help and kindness she received from others. because of this rejection that Kempe experiences it is almost like she is suffering and feeling what Christ went through when he was rejected by his people. i think that this helps her gain something spiritually, she learns from the rejection and the experiences in this text.
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