A Simple Heart

"A Simple Heart," by Gustave Flaubert describes the story of Felicite, a religious, economical, disciplined servant that worked for Madame Aubain. She was very vulnerable, insecure and dependent of other people. We can see her insecurity in her grief of Virginia's death, Madame Aubain's daughter in chapter 3. "For two nights, Felicite never left the corpse. She would repeat the same prayers, sprinkle holy water over the sheets, get up, come back to the bed and contemplate the body." (Pg. 13) In this quotation, we can see that other than Felicite being insecure, she was also restless because she couldn't just sit and grieve and do nothing about it, but she had to move around and try to help Virginia even though she was dead. This also proves her religiousness, because she prayed and put holy water on the sheets. We can also see Felicite's insecureness and restlessness when Loulou gets lost. Loulou is Felicite's pet parrot, the main symbol of the story which perhaps represents hope. I believe he represents hope because Felicite had always been a very lonely person that had nothing to live for. However, when Loulou comes into the story in the fourth chapter, he gave Felicite hope of not dying alone and having some company and somebody to worry about. Nevertheless, when Loulou gets lost, Felicite worries a bit too much. "When she returned, she found no parrot! She hunted among the bushes, on the bank of the river, and on the roofs..." (Pg. 17) Here we can see, once again, Felicite is very restless, and she can't just sit and wait for the bird to come back, but she has to look for him all around the city.

I believe this story is completely based around Felicite's life, feelings, and all emotions. Basically,  Flaubert centers his story in one character, Felicite. He doesn't use other ways of writing such as a whole group of characters, but he simply picks one important person, and everyone else automatically becomes a secondary character. This is a common way of writing which I have seen in practically all the other books I've read this year in English class. Candide, Slaughterhouse - Five, and The Crying of Lot 49 all use this style. In those cases, as in this one, the main character controls the happenings. I believe that to be able to write this way, the author practically has to stop thinking as him, and start thinking as the character. This is what actors have to do to play well a character: They have to be the character. This is a very important connection between literature and film that will always be present.

This story is simply a narration of Felicite's life and the way people and things would just come and go. She could never stop doing things so at many points in the novel she devoted and attached to someone she felt she had to take care of. The perfect example is Father Colmiche. The old man depended on Felicite to keep living so she felt attached to him, but eventually he went out of her life. Unfortunately this is the way everything happens in the story. The most important figure in her life, Loulou also died after accompanying her some time, but she felt so devoted to him, she stuffed him and kept him as a symbol of the Holy Ghost. Since all the important figures in her life died, she eventually became a materialist person, only caring about the physical appearance of things such as the bird. "They associated in her mind, the parrot becoming sanctified through the neighborhood of the Holy Ghost, and the latter becoming more lifelike in her eyes, and more comprehensible..." (Pg. 19)

Basically, I believe "A Simple Heart" is simply a story about the development of a character. In the beginning, we as readers got the vision of Felicite as a humble, dedicated, religious servant, that was unfortunate because of her loneliness and way of life. However, afterwards, little by little her character or personality became to change. She began to look at life a different way. First she became attached to individuals that needed her, which gave her life meaning. Unfortunately, then she started to notice the reality of life as these figures began to die, so she thought her only way out, and the only true things in life were the material objects. She attached herself to material things gathered from all periods of her life and the house fell apart. The parrot began to decay, but nevertheless, she hung on. In the end, Felicite simply died and accepted the reality of life: time passes, people die, and life goes on. I believe that Felicite never really lost hope, and no matter the circumstances, she always believed in God. This is represented by the parrot. As I said before this main symbol of the story represents hope and the Holy Ghost. Even in the time of her death, Felicite saw parrots all around and in the end a huge parrot "hovering" above her. This shows she still had hope and the Holy Ghost was present in her life.