Gustave Flaubert's A Simple Heart

The short story, A Simple Heart, by Gustave Flaubert, perfectly fits all the criteria as a realist piece of literature. Realist literature has several distinguishing features. It has: influence of the middle class, political and social shifts, influence of industry, science permeates all fields of thought, religion is de-emphasized, nature is taken for granted or viewed as hostile, the tone of work is often tragic, follows the lives of average people, and uses ordinary language. A Simple Heart fits almost all of the criteria of a realist piece of literature. The story of A Simple Heart follows a lower class housekeeper, Felicite, living and working in a middle class household in Normandy, France. Throughout the story, it focuses on attitudes …show more content…
Throughout the story, it discusses Felicite’s relationship with religion, or lack there of. One day when Flicite is sitting in church during mass, which she does not understand as she does not speak Latin, she began to imagine the Garden of Eden, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, cities burning and people dying, “this vision left her with a great respect for the Almighty and profound fear of His wrath” (p 719). Another example of the de-emphasis of religion is the way that Felicite has an almost religious devotion to Madame Aubain, “Felicite was a grateful as if she has received a great favor, and henceforth loved her mistress with dog-like devotion and religious veneration” (p727). This show a de-emphasis of religion by showing that religious like devotion can be placed on anyone or anything. The final example of the de-emphasis of religion can be seen in the way that Felicite sees her parrot Loulou to be the Holy Ghost, “They were linked together in her mind, the parrot being sanctified by this connexion with the Holy Ghost, which itself acquired new life and meaning in her eyes. God the Father could not have chosen a dove as mean of expressing Himself, since doves cannot talk, but rather one of Loulou’s ancestors” (p 731). The belief that the Holy Ghost is a parrot is a perfect example of the de-emphasizing of religion as it skews traditional religious …show more content…
Throughout the short story, Felicite experiences loss after loss, giving the entire piece a tragic undertone. Felicite keeps becoming attached to people and things but they keep getting ripped away from her without any closure. The first tragedy in Felicite’s life is the loss of love, Felicite, loses the love of her life, Theodore, as she did not marry him soon enough to get him out of military duty. A second tragedy is the loss of her newly discovered nephew, Victor, who died tragically in Cuba. Felicite experiences yet another loss in the death of her mistress's daughter, Virginie, from pneumonia, “From the doorway of the room she could see Virginie lying on her back, her hands clasped together, her mouth open, her head tilted back under a black crucifix that leant over her, her face whiter than the curtains that hung motionless on either side” (p 725). Finally the greatest tragedy of all for Felicite, is the death of Loulou, and her eventual stuffing, “One morning in the terrible winter of 1837, when she had put him in front of the fire because of the cold she found him dead in the middle of his cage, hanging head down with his claws caught in the bars. He probably died of a stroke…” (p 730). Felicite experienced tragedy after tragedy throughout the entire story which is typical of a realist piece of

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