Madame Bovary Reflective Statement

This idea continues onto another area where my understanding developed significantly after the interactive oral: the portrayal of romanticism and realism. It was discussed that Flaubert was the first to introduce the idea of the realistic view of life by criticizing the romantic views people had. He portrays Emma’s romantic thoughts from the beginning when she reads the various novels of love in the convent. Also, through the satirical description of Emma’s thoughts and her fantastical desires, he begins to show how destructive the idea of romanticism can become. In contrast of Emma’s highly absurd desires, he gives the idea of the realistic life people actually live. He shows this through the satisfied life of Charles, a content, middle class man who does not have any further want for a more successful life. The realism is shown here; Emma’s unrealistic dreams clash with the real world she lives in, which is a world where one’s actual hard work is required.

 I came to understand that this novel is comprised largely of romantic ideals in Emma, critically contrasting it to the realistic, true nature of the world around her. Drawn by the materialistic aspect of the life around her, she fails to see how decent of a life she was actually living. From the interactive oral, these two areas of the work in translation developed my understanding of some of the considerations involved in the work.