Gustave Flaubert: Madame Bovary

[sparkchaser]

I payed attention that the book starts with Charles and ends with Bovary-daughter.

Though Emma is the main protagonist, she does not start and does not end the story. It seems that the world managed without her in the beginning, and goes on when she dies.

I also spotted an irony in the following conversation:

I actually can see Flaubert behind this priest, smiling to himself, when writing these lines.

Eventually, it seems that he portrays Emma like a hurican, who comes and goes, who is very egoistic and thinks herself as the most important creature in the world, - but nobody understands her, poor thing The life goes on with or without her and there are troubles more serious than her broken hart

I read this part this morning (yes I am behind) and I didn't read that at all. I read it as the priest being too preoccupied with other things, such as finishing Madame Bovary's sentences, to realize that she needs spiritual/emotional guidance which she needs but he doesn't give.

 

[Stewart]

I'm not feeling any sense of attachment to any of the characters.

In fiction, there's no requirement to.

 

[Ell]

I read this a number of years ago, now, but the main thing I remember feeling is that Emma was a girl/woman in love with the idea of "Love" and being "in love". She really had no idea how to love someone beyond the superficial first blush of romantic attraction.

From what I recall, she grew disinterested and bored with the men in her life when real life set in and she was no longer the constant centre of attention.

As Ronny mentioned earlier, she had preconceived romantic notions about love and relationships that could never be sustained.

 

[The waveguide]

I read this part this morning (yes I am behind) and I didn't read that at all. I read it as the priest being too preoccupied with other things, such as finishing Madame Bovary's sentences, to realize that she needs spiritual/emotional guidance which she needs but he doesn't give.

Yeah, but HOW he replies her! Not "just" bla-bla. He talks about sorrows in the world, he talks about poor people - and this is EACH time that she wants to say a sentence about her own broken heart!

As you say, the scene itself is based on the fact that the priest has no time for her, and he is absent-minded: his mind is with the kids.

But the dialogue made me laugh! It is like a talk between two deaf people: "I am Emma, I am so miserable, I need a lover" - and the priest, "Yeah, there are many miserable people, they do not have money, food, they are ill and cold". So cynical! All are miserable, but each cares about his own misery. And clearly, from a moral point of view, some miseries (hunger) are more important than other (having a lover)

Flaubert could put thousands of words in priest's mouth, but this dialogue (I think) may express Flaubert's own ideas. The idea (might be) - "woman, stop talking bullshit, go to your daughter and husband, and do something useful - help poor, for instance"!

That was my feeling. I am not a professional in literature, but those were my thoughts when I read it....

 

[abecedarian]

In fiction, there's no requirement to.

Good thing. The most I felt for any of the characters was a sort of detatched sympathy and curiosity. I could see that doom loomed for Madame Bovary, but I had a tough time feeling overly involved in the process.

 

[Ell]

Good thing. The most I felt for any of the characters was a sort of detatched sympathy and curiosity. I could see that doom loomed for Madame Bovary, but I had a tough time feeling overly involved in the process.

I remember thinking I wanted to slap Emma upside the head and tell her to grow up! But I doubt it would have done any good. She was egocentric to the core.

 

[Ronny]

Did it ever say what her age was? It seems she was quite a bit younger than Charles but I don't recall what the age difference was.

 

[The waveguide]

I'm not sure how old she was when she got married, but probably around 18. Wasn't she just fresh from her school?

I also found this analysis of the characters. Also here is the analysis of the book...

The interesting thing that I read there was:

Flaubert once said, “Madame Bovary is me,” and many scholars believe that he was referring to a weakness he shared with his character for romance, sentimental flights of fancy, and melancholy. Flaubert, however, approaches romanticism with self-conscious irony, pointing out its flaws even as he is tempted by it. Emma, on the other hand, never recognizes that her desires are unreasonable.

 

[Ronny]

Ah, a question for those that have finished? I have really had to push myself through the first hundred pages and I've got to say I'm not really liking the experience, does it get any better in the last 2/3s of the book?

 

[The waveguide]

Ah, a question for those that have finished? I have really had to push myself through the first hundred pages and I've got to say I'm not really liking the experience, does it get any better in the last 2/3s of the book?

It was not my style either

Actually I read through the book very fast, it was finished in two evenings.

It worth giving it a try - in my case, I had an educated guess how it will finish and I was right! But yeah, it was somewhat annoying. I agree. But I think that it was not the author, it's his characters who were so irritating

 

[beer good]

Random thought about the scene from the agricultural show (Part II, chapter VIII): much like the scene with the priest, Flaubert is really working hard here at justifying Emma's dissatisfaction with life in Yonville - not necessarily by showing her being bored with it (as she doesn't really have time, considering what she's doing) but showing how ridiculous it seems; the prefect himself doesn't even bother showing up, the festivities are amateurish and pretty silly, and the prize for a woman who does her job is to be worked as a slave and be given a medallion when she's too old to work anymore. What's the alternative?

 

[abecedarian]

Ah, a question for those that have finished? I have really had to push myself through the first hundred pages and I've got to say I'm not really liking the experience, does it get any better in the last 2/3s of the book?

I felt the same way! I'm glad I finished though.

 

[sparkchaser]

Ah, a question for those that have finished? I have really had to push myself through the first hundred pages and I've got to say I'm not really liking the experience, does it get any better in the last 2/3s of the book?

I'm at the half-way point and you're not alone.

 

[abecedarian]

Perhaps part of the problem so many of us have experienced with this novel is the feeling of impending doom that's just waiting to rear it's ugly head. It's like watching the movie Titanic..you know not to get too attatched to the characters; they're all gonna die!

 

[Ronny]

Perhaps part of the problem so many of us have experienced with this novel is the feeling of impending doom that's just waiting to rear it's ugly head. It's like watching the movie Titanic..you know not to get too attatched to the characters; they're all gonna die!

that could be, I already know how it ends because it's such a talked about book. I of course wanted to fill in my blanks by reading it but I'm finding the filler not so enthralling. I will finish it though because I've made it this far.

 

[Libra]

I think Charles had never heard an incouraging word from his father and was a pleaser. There are so many different feelings going on with these characters. Some things though have not changed, men using women or taking advantage of them and their situation like Rodolphe and that a** ...umm the one that kept talking her into buying things on credit."Morally " she was wrong but then again a life so boring and alone all day who blames her? I am sure though that a servant at that time would love to be a doctors wife and take care of Charles and appreciate him as a caring man.

 

[Ronny]

I think Charles had never heard an incouraging word from his father and was a pleaser. There are so many different feelings going on with these characters. Some things though have not changed, men using women or taking advantage of them and their situation like Rodolphe and that a** ...umm the one that kept talking her into buying things on credit."Morally " she was wrong but then again a life so boring and alone all day who blames her? I am sure though that a servant at that time would love to be a doctors wife and take care of Charles and appreciate him as a caring man.

I think that's why I have a hard time liking Emma, she is rather fortunate, she lives comfortably and her husband is affectionate if mediocre. Compared to what many women, Charles's mother included, experience she had little to complain about. I still don't especially dislike her either due to her expectations being set high by the romantic stories she encountered at school.

 

[sparkchaser]

Perhaps part of the problem so many of us have experienced with this novel is the feeling of impending doom that's just waiting to rear it's ugly head. It's like watching the movie Titanic..you know not to get too attatched to the characters; they're all gonna die!

That's not it. For me anyway. I know how it's going to end and in theory I should want to know what leads up to it but I am not getting pulled into the story.

 

[saliotthomas]

I don't see why BOTM should be such torture,if you do not like a book,having read the start should be enough to discusse the style,the caractere descriton,and take part of the following converstion.
Maybe been French help me been closer to the story,and i like classic.But if BOTM is to continu,no one should have to read a book that they so dislike.

 

[sparkchaser]

I don't see why BOTM should be such torture,if you do not like a book,having read the start should be enough to discusse the style,the caractere descriton,and take part of the following converstion.
Maybe been French help me been closer to the story,and i like classic.But if BOTM is to continu,no one should have to read a book that they so dislike.

I can't speak for other people but I chose to read it because it is considered a classic and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.