Some critics have suggested that Félicité's apparently meaningless life and misplaced worship of the parrot, Loulou-whom she adores and whom she imagines, in her dying moment, to be an incarnation of the Holy Ghost-reflect Flaubert's melancholy and disillusionment with life and with organized religion, particularly the Roman Catholic Church. Félicité, a woman of simple mind and devoted heart, suffers tremendous loss but continues to her last breath to love unconditionally. In this story of a simple housemaid's life and death, the reader is invited to view a world of boundless, if not reciprocated, love and spirit. The story is unusual among the author's writings because it is about goodness. The protagonist, a hardworking, good-hearted, poor and uneducated woman named Félicité, is said to have been modeled after a maid employed by Flaubert's family during his childhood, a much beloved woman of tremendous character. Originally entitled "Le Perroquet" ("The Parrot"), "A Simple Heart" is the story of one woman's apparently fruitless existence. It received admiring reviews at the time and has continued to be second only to his novel Madame Bovary (1857) in recognition and acclaim. Ultimately, the story gives opportunity for self-reflection and examination while reading it, as it is a complex story involving many events and situations that are not entirely uncommon human experiences."A Simple Heart" ("Un Coeur Simple"), by French writer Gustave Flaubert, is one of the stories in his Three Tales (Trois Contes), published in 1877.
Then, reflect on your own background and how it has affected and shaped who you are as a person. Think about how this affected her relationship with the children she nannied. Reflect on how her experiences were affected by her upbringing, where she lived, or what resources she had to get by. After reading about how she endures the situation, it may give you pause to reflect on how you've handled past betrayals or similar situations.Īs far as background, A Simple Heart does a great job of explaining what its like to live a life of poverty, and to come from adversity. Questions you might ask yourself are "how should I approach this feeling of betrayal?" In the book, Felicite is betrayed by a young man with whom she's romantically involved. Despite enduring great losses, and suffering a very miserable childhood, she approaches life and her role with great ambition and resolve.īy reading this story, you start to examine and understand your own experiences and how you've approached them, and start to reflect on yourself in the same ways that Felicite does.
"A Simple Heart" by Gustave Flaubert is a story about a housemaid who lives a life of servitude.
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