A Simple Heart

I think that the title of the work is very appropriate since in summary the main character Felicity has a very simple heart, she is easily satisfied and is strong and selfless. Though throughout the years she lost companions and loved ones she always kept going and stayed positive and this is what makes her and incredible character, she never loses faith in her own life. I found that she seemed more affectionate and motherly that Madame Aubain was towards her own children. She was extremely loyal and faithful to people she loves which showed her strength when she lost a loved one because she always recovered or was the one who helped others through the terrible event.‘Hurry up, hurry up!’ Madame Aubain climbed over the ditch, pushed Virginia up, then Paul, fell several times in trying to climb over the slope, and by dint of courage succeeded. "The bull had driven Felicity into a corner against an opening in the hedge; his slaver sprayed on her face, a second more and he would have gored her. She had time to slip between two bars, and the big beast, quite surprised, stopped short." I think this quote shows that humble Felicity was willing to give up her life for her mistress and her children. I think it was these kind of relationships and devotion that satisfied Felicity.

One thing that I found as I read was that Felicity began as a more vibrant character who was always smiling and played with the children but as the story progressed she became more serious and somber. Even though she never really lost hope she had several moments of desperation like when she lost her nephew or her Mistress' child. These moments made her harden and find new, small things to keep herself relatively happy. Even after saving her Mistress and her children from the bull Felicity's composure never changed, she remained humble and faithful. I think she's a very strong character because many events in her life could have driven her to insanity since the only family she had was her Madame Aubain and the people in her town but one by one they dropped out of her life. I like how Flaubert made his character develop and react positively in comparison to her situation because her faultless sense of hope gave the readers hope that there would be a better tomorrow.

"...she begged him to show her the house where Victor was living. Bourais raised his arms, sneezed, laughed enormously; such ingenuousness excited his joy: and Felicity did not understand the cause of it—she who was expecting, perhaps, even to see a photograph of her nephew, so limited was her intelligence." I think that Felicity's ignorance in some ways protected her from the cruelties of the world because she was too naive to understand or to fully grasp the issue and thus didn't pay much attention to it. The fact that she learnt a lot and grew spiritually and emotionally in the novel may have also aided her in terrible times because it gave her someone to turn to. Religion is very good as a comforter because it is one of the few things in life that is permanent and so it will never leave your life or abandon you like people do. At times I felt as though the author was being unjust to the character because he was making such a good, kind person suffer so greatly throughout her life. I'm guessing that his focus when throwing so many obstacles in Felicity's way was to show how she would handle the issues and see whether or not she grows and develops from the experience.

A last thing that I noticed and liked was the fact that Felicity passes away with a smile on her face. "Her lips smiled. The beats of her heart slowed one by one, more unsteady each time, more gentle like a fountain that is exhausted, like an echo that disappears; and when she breathed her last breath she thought she saw in the heavens as they opened, a gigantic parrot, flying above her head." Even to the very end she had a last little gleam of hope with her stuffed parrot. I think it is touching how she had found a way to survive by taking that parrot into her heart and making him her last hope. It's sweet how he is the last thing she thinks about before she dies and also she was able to preserve him, like religion after his death by stuffing him so that she could keep him by her side until the very end. This devotion demonstrate her capacity to love and her need for someone or something to support her and even though her choice is rather comical it keeps her satisfied until her last breath. I think people should always have someone or something to turn to just like Felicity because it seemed to comfort her in her worst moments and help her survive and that is what we all need, a little boost from time to time to keep us going, just like Felicity.