41 pages • 1 hour read
Gustave FlaubertA Simple Heart
Gustave FlaubertFiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1877A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary
The priest leads the Corpus Christi religious procession. They reach the Aubain home, where the stuffed Loulou has been placed on the altar in the courtyard but is now buried beneath a pile of flowers. The sound of bells wakes Félicité. She can imagine the procession in her mind almost as though she were there. She pictures Loulou beneath the flowers and thinks emotionally about the parrot as the noises of the procession pass by. Félicité can smell the incense from the procession and hear the singing. She smiles. Félicité dies, her final thoughts involving the image of a large parrot “hovering above her head” as the heavens open to receive her (40).
Chapter 5 Analysis
A Simple Heart begins with the death of Monsieur Aubain, establishing The Omnipresence of Death. Throughout the story of Félicité’s life, she loses her parents, Virginie, Victor, Madame Aubain, and even her parrot, Loulou. Since the contours of Félicité’s life were shaped by the deaths of others, it is fitting that the narrative ends with the death of
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