A Simple Heart - Flaubert essays

A Simple Heart - Flaubert essays Within the text of A Simple Heart, by Flaubert, readers find themselves face to face with a simple character. The character is named Felicite. Felicite, according to parenthood.com, means fortunate; Felicity, being off the root of Felicia, means happy. However, Felicites life path turns out to be very mocking to the name she was given. Throughout this book, readers have a hard time finding any fortune or happiness within the context of Felicites simple life. From an outsiders view, Felicites life is not fortunate by any stretch of the imagination. At an early age, Felicites parents died and she was essentially left without a family. She was taken in by a farmer where she was mistreated and beaten and then fired for a crime she did not commit. After this point, she met a man who wooed and romanced her, only to be abandoned by him. Her life was not happy, as the story depicted. At this point, she gave way to a burst of extravagant grief. She threw herself on the ground, cried aloud, called on the good God, and groaned, all alone in the country till sunrise (Flaubert, 6). She was eventually taken into Madame Aubains residence, where she spent most of the passing of this book. Madame Aubains residence is the perfect place for her, and thusly it melted her sorrows. She spends the beginning of her time there playing with the children allowing them to ride on her as if she were a horse. Madame Aubain eventually suggests that she not kiss the children so frequently and so plentifully. Flaubert writes, Madame Aubain told her to stop kissing them all the time, which hurt her deeply (Flaubert, 7). Felicite, in her simplicity, was full of love for people as well. At one point, Felicite, Madame Aubain, and her two children, Paul and Virginie, were confronted with a bull. Rather than run and cause the bull to stampede, Felicite retired steadily...