PART 2 Discussion Question #1 for Flaubert's "A Simple Heart" (pp. 450-55), DUE: Feb. 8

Discussion Question #1 for Flaubert's "A Simple Heart" (pp. 450-55), DUE: Feb. 8 

Instructions for posting your answers to Discussion Questions are as follows:

Please provide your in-depth interpretation and analysis on the questions (at least 100 words per Discussion question #1, #2, and #3). Please try to include textual evidence (direct quotes along with the Act and Scene #) in your answer.

When you need to summarize the plot, please do not copy words/sentences from the text. You should briefly summarize/paraphrase the plot in your own words.

Discussion Question #1 for Flaubert's "A Simple Heart" (1877, pp. 450-455)

What does Monsieur Bourais do for Madam Aubain? When Felicite asks M. Bourais to show her the house where Victor is living while they are looking at the atlas, he laughs because "a simplicity like hers was a positive joy" (446). What do you make of M. Bourais's reaction to Felicite? After Victor's death, Felicite becomes attached to the parrot, Loulou. When Monsieur Bourais visits Madame's house, Loulou starts to laugh at him, and Bourais eventually avoids the parrot and goes into the house by the garden gate (450). How would you compare this [Loulou's laugh at Bourais] to Bourais' laugh at Felicite when she expected to see Victor's house on the atlas (446)? How would you describe Bourais's personality and his characteristics?

Discussion Question #2 for Flaubert's "A Simple Heart" (pp. 450-55)

After Loulou dies, Felicite has him stuffed and puts him in her room. She finds an association between the image of her parrot and the Holy Ghost: "The likeness was still clearer, she thought, on a crude color-print representing the baptism of Our Lord. With his purple wings and emerald body he [the Holy Ghost] was the very image of Loulou" (453). What does she mean by the Holy Ghost was "the very image of Loulou"? Is this her ignorant thought due to her lack of knowledge of religious doctrines, or is she idolizing Loulou? Does she find the Holy Ghost through Loulou or in Loulou? Does Felicite's lack of knowledge of the Bible cause a problem in her way of worshiping God? What do you think Flaubert is trying to convey through Felicite's lack of religious education and knowledge of the Bible?  

Discussion Question #3 for Flaubert's "A Simple Heart" (pp. 450-55),

3. When Felicite was asked to offer something to put on the altar in Madame Aubain's courtyard for a religious festival, she thought of offering Loulou. Although the neighbors did not agree with her idea, the priest "gave her permission" (454) to put Loulou on the altar, and Felicite even asked him to accept Loulou after she died. What do you make of the priest's reaction to Felicite's offering of Loulou on the altar and what does it say about his view of Felicite? Does the priest think Felicite is religious or she is unable to understand the religious meaning of the ritual? How would you compare/contrast Felicite's life and her attitude towards others to Monsieur Bourais who has "some pretensions to Latin" (439)? What does Bourais's death expose about him? What do you think of the purpose of the character Bourais in this story? Why do you think Flaubert chose the day of Felicite's death on the day of the religious festal ceremony? When Felicite was about to die, "her lips smiled. . . . she thought she saw an opening in the heavens, and a gigantic parrot hovering above her head" (455). What do you make of the ending part of the story and Felicite's death?