Analytical Reading Response to Realism and Flaubert's "A Simple Heart" (1877)- 60 points
Length: About 350 words (one long paragraph in double-space)
Due: Feb. 13 (Tuesday), 11:59 pm
*Please answer the questions in the prompt and provide your detailed analysis supported by convincing textual examples (at least two direct quotes that prove your analytical points).
Note: Do not summarize the plot and do not write in general about what happened to Felicite.
Please focus on your analysis of WHY (not how) Felicite acted the way she did in your analytical reading response.
Writing Instructions:
Please put quotation marks (not italics) around the title of the short story-- "A Simple Heart" (This is an MLA style)
Do not summarize the plot in your analytical reading response.
Please do not use expressions, such as "I feel like," "you see" or "we know" in the analysis paper.
Do not cite more than 3 lines for each quote (use an ellipsis if needed) and use an MLA in-text citation, referring to the character/narrator. Please put the page number of a quotation in parentheses.
Please make sure to add your detailed analysis after each quote.
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*Please check the writing instruction one more time and double-check your post after uploading your document to Assignments
Analytical Reading Response on Flaubert's "A Simple Heart" (1877)
Why do you think Gustave Flaubert chose an uneducated servant Felicite as the central character of the story? How would you describe Felicite as an individual? Does she have a strong moral sense? (any textual evidence?) What do Victor and Loulou mean to Felicite? Why is she attached to the parrot and what does Loulou symbolize in her life? Why do you think Flaubert depicts Felicite as a person who lacks religious education? How would compare Felicite's life with Monsieur Bourais's? What does Bourais's death expose about him and what do you make of Flaubert's purpose for the character Bourais in this story? Bourais once laughed at Felicite, thinking "a simplicity like hers was a positive joy" (446). What does he mean by her simplicity? Does Flaubert mock Felicite's simple-mindedness? What do you make of the title of the story and Felicite's life? What does Flaubert try to convey through Felicite's "simple" life? What irony [the author's intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words] do you find in the story? Please make sure that your analysis of the short story is logically connected and supported by textual examples (direct quotes with page numbers).