Thus far we've discussed a number of aspects of Flaubert's novel; however, we certainly have not exhausted the work. What is one aspect of the novel (theme? character? passage? scene?) that class discussion did not touch on thoroughly (or at all), but which you feel demands attention?
10 comments:
i felt that we should have discussed mrs.homais a bit. i know shes a minor character, but minor characters always accent the major ones,like mrs.homais is pretty much the exact opposite of mrs.bovary. her way of dealing with her kids and husband, running her household and so on i think is actually somewhat interesting when comparing it to all the things madame bovary does.
I think we touched on this in class really quick, but I thought about it and what role it might play in the remainder of the novel. I found a quote to sum it up:
"She hoped for a son; he would be strong and dark; she would call him George; and this idea of having a male child was like an expected revenge for all her impotence in the past."
Did Flaubert, with his novel critcizing the unrealistic hopes of Emma, intend to deliver a main point concerning all women? At this point in the novel, Flaubert makes it clear that Emma does not want a daughter. Her reasons, too, aren't hard to discern. But I'm curious if Flaubert was more or less directing this, and the role of Emma in the novel, to all women. Is he blaming them for being incompetent, or is he encouraging change? How does Flaubert feel about women, and they're role in general?
I was actually surprised you never mentioned the amount of times the word "storm" is mentioned in the novel. We talk often about how Madame Bovary always wants this tragically romantic event to shake up her life, but we never really talked about how she mentions specifically a storm o a number of occasions. On page 31 the narrator says, "She liked the sea only because of its storms" and on page 48 it says, "Her trip to La Vaubyessard had made a gap in her life, like those great crevasses which a storm will sometimes hollow out on a mountainside in a single night." Plus, as soon as Leon leaves, a storm comes. I think this symbolic representation of what Emma wants is really important because it demonstrates that she looks for the disaster that is going to leave her a victim. She almost wants an excuse to feel as angry and sad as she does. She wants a tragic life that is unconventionally wrong because she finds it to be romantic and beautiful.
I think it might have been a problem that I missed the earliest discussions in class when i was on vacation. I did not get to talk about some of my favorite parts of the book. I really wanted to talk about the wedding of Charles and Emma, but since I missed that conversation i feel like i might have missed important information. I also would have liked to hear the conversations about the very beginnging of the novel when they talk about the young charles and his life at school, I think many people in the class would have had interesting things to say about that section of the book and im sad i missed it.
One symbolic moment I don't remember talking about in class is when Emma throws her wedding bouquet into the fireplace. The act of burning her wedding bouquet symbolizes the many feelings she has about Charles and her marriage in one instant. The bouquet stands for her disappointed hopes regarding her husband Charles, and the idea of marriage. The burning of her bouquet foreshadows the way her many desires will eventually consume her entire life.
How about Madame Bovary vs. Madame Bovary, part deux? I mean, of course, of the little spat that Mama Bovary had with Emma on page 166. Here's a quote:
"What social class do you come from?" said Emma, with such an impertinent look that her mother-in-law asked if it wasn't really herself she was defending"
and then: "oh, what narrow-mindedness!"said Emma, stamping her foot. "What a peasant!"
I love this quote just because it makes me so angry. How can Emma have the audacity to say this to her mother -in-law? Or to anyone? (This fight came along after Moma Bovary criticized Emma for not caring about the old dudes that Felicite brings into the house). Anyways, Emma has no right to say something so blatantly hypocritical since she herself is a "peasant". I despise how much arrogance Emma caries around with her, she's a farm girl: she was born on a farm, raised on a farm, and now she's living in a backwoods farm village. She's not a "lady", she's not refined. And when she was forced to apologize to Mama Bovary, she "threw herself on the bed and wept like a child." Seriously? Where does all of this pride come from? Her entire life is just one perceived failure after another, and yet she still thinks that she is "the s**t." I really hope that Marie Antoinette comes and smacks the layers of gaudiness out of her until there's nothing left but her hickish, peasant-girl center.
We've touched on a lot in class, well Mr. Cianflone has touched on a lot in class. haha. But I feel that we should discuss Charles a bit more. Not in the way we do, we do definitely talk about him. But it seems like we have a mutual understanding of why Emma has left him, but not a thorough one. I feel that we could expose his flaws a bit more, which would make Emma seem as not so bad a character. I mean to me, I hope she gets what is coming to her (not Leon or Roldophe, rather justice). But I feel that if we really talked about Charles' flaws, we'd have more sympathy for Emma than we do already. I know he is a fool, but fools could still be good guys. Right?
i was suprised that we all but ignored the time Emma pushes her daughter over into the dresser. I thought i was a hurendous moment that was very telling of Emma but we did not disscuss it. I think it may have been my favorite part because it showed the dark side of Emma that she normaly keeps hidden.
Well... I liked how today we discussed how it is possible to feel symapathy for Emma. Though i am not at all saying that she is totally blame free, because of course her unhappiness comes from not finding her idealistic dreams and also from participating in aldutress affairs.... I do think that to an extent this idealistic nature is part of her personality and she can't help herself from being disappionted. Therefore, as i read i cannot help but feel some degree of sympathy for Emma and her predicament. However, do not confuse this with forgiveness for her adultress affairs because no matter what the circumstances, there is no excuse.
I feel that we should have discussed Emma as an addict. Throughout the novel there are an increasing number of addict imagery. I feel that Emma is constantly searching for a high, but no high is as good as the initial high. And so she gets bored and moves on to something else. For example, in Part III (either chapter four or five, I'm not sure) Flaubert describes that lying has become a mania for Emma. I think it would be beneficial to look at Emma as a sort of addict instead of merely a women.
We touched on this somewhat, but I also think that some gender differences would be interesting to look at within the novel.
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