Book #6: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

You have to admire a guy who pays attention to the books his girl is reading… or slightly creepy when he does not exactly know the girl yet. When Dean asks Rory about Moby Dick (in the very same scene in the pilot episode), he asks her how she enjoyed Madame Bovary…which she had finished before she met him. Madame Bovary is a French novel about a bored housewife and her irrational and endless search for happiness. This is a dense novel for a high schooler to read (much like Moby Dick), but is fitting for Rory. Emma Bovary finds her solace and her expectations in books, much like Rory. While Rory uses fiction as a way to expand her reality, Emma Bovary uses fiction to set unrealistic expectations for her own reality.

Fiction vs. Reality

There are not many parts of the character of Emma Bovary I like or can even relate to. The only similarity between myself and Emma (and Rory) is our love of reading. Ever since I was a child, I

loved books more than any toy my parents could buy me. It is probably evident from this blog that books are a huge part of my lifestyle. I love a story of any kind and am open to reading almost anything. I find it an escape from my regular life, a way to express my emotions (catharsis!), and teaches me life lessons and facts about subjects I never knew otherwise. But what separates myself from Emma in our love of books, is that Emma does not know how to distinguish between fiction and her reality. She reads epic romance novels and adventure stories and expects to find those same extremes in her own life. She does not realize that literature often dramatizes the extremities of life in order to bring out an emotional response from their readers. When Emma realizes reality can never live up to the adventures in her books, it causes her to become depressed and her husband to ban her from reading. Emma expects to experience love like she sees it in books and, therefore, self-sabotages her chances of happiness in her own life. This brings me to my next point…

The Pursuit of Happiness

Emma spends the majority of the book never content with her life; always searching for the next best thing. Actually, let’s make it the entire book. Emma is never happy or content with what she has. When she has something or someone good, she ruins it because she thinks that something better will come along. She begins her first affair because she is bored with her marriage and her husband. Once the excitement of marriage wears off, Emma is ready to look for something new and exciting like she

sees in her books. When Rodophe Boulanger comes around, Emma does not hesitate when he gives her attention. Emma thinks this relationship is her fantastic love affair like she sees in the books. Boulanger, however, is an epic playboy and sees Emma as just another plaything. I do feel for Emma in this situation as I have been in similar circumstances. Of course, I am not married nor have I ever been involved in a cheating scandal. I do know, however, what it is like to care about a guy who couldn’t care less about me. Like Boughlanger, this guy was very good at giving the appearance of caring about me and making me feel like I was special. Was this the reality? No. I was just a toy of amusement; someone he kept around because he knew I would make him feel good about himself. Maybe he wasn’t to the extreme of Boughlanger, but the emotions I felt when it ended (the multiple times it did) made me relate to Emma when I read about her relationship. Emma held onto Boughlanger too tight causing him to do lose interest in her. I was of the same flaw. I held on too tight, made my emotions too readily known, and the excitement of my presence faded. I didn’t mean to go on a tangent of my own love life, but isn’t this what literature is about? Making connections to our own lives and finding some sort of understanding of our emotions through other characters? I am not like Emma in how I move on from these types of situations. Emma drowns herself in her sorrows and believes that she has nothing left in her life if she does not have a man of excitement who adores. Thus, the tragic ending. I find strength in my sorrow and my emotions because I know that it will eventually make me stronger. Unlike Emma, I am aware of my own worth and the kind of person who deserves to be with me. A lesson I think we all need to remember from time to time.

Tid-bits

- “writing with the nausea of writing”: Oh what a good way to describe the writing process! It is not always fun and natural. One does not just start typing and out pops the perfect story, essay, blog post…There are times you sit and nothing comes to you. It is one of the worst feelings because you just can’t get the words right. Writing is not always an enjoyable process, but the end result makes it all worth it..kinda like childbirth, I guess.

- “being forbidden to see her, gave him a right to love her” – This description of Charles Bovary’s feelings for Emma made me angry. Charles only wanted Emma in the beginning because he wasn’t allowed to have her (he was married; she was the daughter of a patient). Everyone loves the idea of forbidden love; it makes it all the more exciting! However, when that love isn’t forbidden any longer, it isn’t as appealing or exciting.

- “German women are moody; Italian women are fiery” – This line made me laugh out loud because I am both German and Italian. Some people (maybe my students; maybe some guys I dated) may say I can be moody. I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve so people can see when I am down or excited. My fiery side is more subtle; something that comes out in the heat of the moment, but certainly something you do not want to mess with.

Citations

- Book Cover:https://pacejmiller.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/madame-bovary.jpg 

- Quote:https://img0.etsystatic.com/046/1/10422774/il_340x270.734538018_m84o.jpg

Book #5: Moby Dick

Setting the Stage

            “I know it’s kind of cliché to pick Moby Dick as your first Melville, but…” says Rory Gilmore as Dean asks her how she is liking Moby Dick. Dean gets kudo points for asking Rory about the books she is reading (take some hints boys) and begins the first Rory’s three relationships

But, back to Moby Dick…What a feat for sophomore in high school, right? It is perhaps regarded as one of the longest in the American cannon. While not long in page numbers, the writing style can be difficult to follow and story is drawn out and dry at times. Many people groan at the thought of reading Moby Dick, but I believe people should take a chance on it. It isn’t as overwhelming and dry as one might think.

Is it cliché to read Moby Dick as your first Melville? I do not think so. Moby Dick is his most well known and well regarded book so why not start there? There is a reason that this is the book he is remembered for and not his others. I guess Moby Dick is my first official Melville. However, I did read the stage adaptation of Billy Budd as my venture into reading all the books in my high school’s book room (I will have to explain this to you all at some other point).

What is the great American novel?

This question always brings up so much debate. Is the great American novel Huck Finn? Is it Moby Dick? Is it The Great Gatsby? Many people will insert their idea on what they think the great Huck Finn is an example of one of the greatest satirical works in American literature? Maybe Moby Dick is an example of one of the greatest uses of metaphor in American literature? And, maybe, The Great Gatsby best shows how Americans felt during the height of the Lost Generation? Each novel serves a purpose and shines a light where needed by the American people when they read it.

American novel is, but, frankly, it is a matter of opinion. It is my personal belief that there is not ONE great American novel, but many. How are we supposed to claim one novel as the greatest one in our country’s 200 plus years of existence? Maybe

Biblical Allusions

Given that I just taught allusions to my 10^th grade students, I think it is fitting that I discuss them in this post. An allusion (with an “A” folks. We ain’t talking about illusions…) is a reference to a well known person, place, thing, or idea. Within literature, especially classic literature, the most common form of allusions is a biblical one. When reading Moby Dick, the most obvious biblical allusion is that of Jonah and the Whale. We are all familiar with the story of Jonah, whether in detail or not. Basically, Jonah is eaten by a whale for not doing exactly what God wanted him to do and has to fight his way out of the whale’s stomach. The story of Jonah could be read as a story of fighting against one’s fears and uncertainty similar to Moby Dick. The whale (Moby Dick) is Captain Ahab’s obsession and possibly his greatest fear (after all, the whale did make him lose his leg).  While not fighting his way out of the whale’s stomach, Captain Ahab is fighting his way out of the whale’s mental hold on him and the fear that holds him back.

            The Bible is perhaps the oldest source an author can allude to and contains may universal stories that appear across many faiths. Religion has been around since the history of the human race, but does that make it natural? Humans need something to believe in and Melville captures this in Moby Dick. Of course, he references Christianity and its stories, but he also provides examples of pagan religions and does not belittle them. Melville emphasizes the importance of having faith, but also presents the same emphasis on the natural, scientific world. By focusing on religious rituals of all faiths and scientific thought (his analysis of whales and almost textbook like description of them), Melville shows two theories of thought, which are often at odds, as compliments.

Where is it?

One of the biggest criticism’s of Moby Dick is that it takes until page 233 for Moby Dick to even be mentioned in the novel. It is quite frustrating because with a title like Moby Dick, one might expect the focus of the entire novel to be Moby Dick itself.  But the more you read, the more you realize that the point of the book is not the whale, but what the whale represents: the great unknown, the thing that keeps everybody moving forward, the goal that keeps you working hard. 

Novel? Textbook? Play? All of the Above?

What surprised me the most about this novel was its narrative structure. During the majority of the novel, the story was told through a first person perspective through the character of Ishmael. However, the novel contained stage directions. And, at times, it even included dialogue as in a script for a play. Then, without notice, it would switch to almost a textbook style of writing in which the author explained the science behind whales: different types of whales, what they looked like, they’re reproductive structures, what they ate, where they were located, etc. Melville included minuscule details about whales that are, overall, not very interesting to the reader. Why would Melville include this in his novel? More so, why would he change his narrative structure several times throughout his novel? While part of me (okay a lot of me) found the scientific/informative section of this book boring, I did like how he presented his story. The narrator Ishmael did not have access to all the events or all the necessary background information needed to make the reader understand all parts of the novel. Therefore, it was necessary to present this valuable information in another manner. Although sometimes it is tedious to read, part of the appeal of the book and why it so well regarded is because of the manner (or manners) in which it is written.

“For all men tragically great are made so through a certain morbidness.”

This quote stuck with me the most while reading this novel. If you look back at history or the greatest characters in literature, they are not heroes or strong because their lives were hunky-dory. Most of the time, at some point in their lives, they went through something dark or conquered some sort of hurdle which made them want to make a difference. Just think about it.

Pictures

- Book cover:https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/a6/60/44/a66044fca7735a735a6d11f4f978abc2.jpg

- Herman Melville: https://www.poets.org/sites/default/files/styles/286x289/public/images/biographies/HermanMelville_NewBioImage.jpg?itok=R51xUZIo
Quote:http://cdn2.headlineshirts.net/media/catalog/product/cache/3/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/m/o/mobydick-v1-1312.jpg