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