Tricky, Tricky

Flaubert’s subtle yet excruciating illustrations are but a mere detail of his style’s components in Un Coeur Simple. He manages to depict Felicite’s naïve and extremely forgiving personality without actually saying so. He lets the reader make his own assumptions about the character without being told anything about his/her characteristics. The following is an example of this, where I was surprised at how the unimportance Flaubert gives to an event emphasizes the same unimportance that Felicite gave to another event: "Oh, yes, your nephew!" And shrugging her shoulders, Madame Aubain continued to pace the floor as if to say: "I did not think of it.-- Besides, I do not care, a cabin-boy, a pauper!--but my daughter--what a difference! just think of it!--" Felicite, although she had been reared roughly, was very indignant. Then she forgot about it” (Ch. III). The last sentence forces us to hastily forget the event. It is also a very simple sentence, which can be assimilated to the ease with which Felicite absolved the occurrence.

In this way, Flaubert characterizes Felicite without telling us anything about her personality, and is ironically urging the reader to have Felicite’s same softhearted personality. Flaubert, of course, knows that the reader will catch on to his trickery, which is ultimately what he is trying to show. Flaubert attempts to show us how subtle his deception can be. If we would not become aware of this, then Flaubert’s work would go unappreciated.