Fictitious Permanence: A Simple Heart, by Gustave Flaubert

The story A Simple Heart, by Gustave Flaubert, narrates the story of Felicity, servant in the household of Madame Aubain. Throughout the story, the reader is able to notice Felicity’s dependence on other people and her vulnerability when forced to face the outside world by herself. Virginia’s death was a matter of intense grief and sadness for those who knew her; however, Felicity suffered more from this loss than Madame Aubain, the mother of the child.
“In the morning, from habit, Felicity went into Virginia’s room and looked at the walls. She missed not having her hair to comb, her boots to lace, to tuck her in her bed… She was good for nothing, could not sleep, to use her own expression was ‘a wreck’.” (p. 7).
Felicity did not miss the character of Virginia herself, but rather the tasks she engaged herself in while Virginia was alive. When the child passed away the servant’s occupations ceased to exist. Having nothing to do to pass the time away, she became “a wreck.” Felicity’s urge for someone to be with increased to such extent as to be willing to act as her family’s slave in return for some company. She cherished every moment she spent with Victor, her nephew, simply because of the pleasure of having something to do while the time passed by. “He brought his clothes to be mended, and she accepted this task, glad of the chance which forced him to come back.” (p. 7). Felicity’s dependency on someone to keep her company made her a very vulnerable human being. Her fear of solitude placed her at the mercy of others and made her reliant on external situations to preserve her own spirit.

Victor’s death at sea forced Felicity to search for other objects or people she could use in order to satisfy her need for companionship. She developed a reciprocal relationship with the insect-eaten hat Madame Aubain gave her and the cancer-consumed Father Colmiche. Since the sick man depended on Felicity’s care in order to continue living, the servant was able to “own” him. The same situation happened with the hat and every other material good she accumulated in her room. These were objects Felicity could call her own, thus satisfying her simple heart’s desires for someone or something that could keep her company at any time.

These wishes were finally secured with the appearance of Loulou, a parrot that soon became Felicity’s devoted pet. When she began to loose her hearing and alienating herself from the exterior world, Loulou acted as the string that kept Felicity attached to reality. “Loulou, in her isolation, was almost a son, a lover.” (p. 14). When Loulou passed away, Felicity was forced to evade solitude by stuffing the bird and idolatrizing his figure. “This spot, to which she admitted few people, had the look at once of a chapel and a bazaar, it contained so many religious objects and heteroclite things.” (p. 15). Felicity began to venerate the bird as a holy figure, as something comparable to the Holy Ghost. She “... contracted the idolatrous habit of saying her prayers before the parrot.” (p. 16). Felicity could not bear the loss of the bird because its body was the only object that kept her satisfied. Material goods became the main focus of her life. Beings lived and died, their souls lost forever, but material goods appeared to last infinitely.

Later on, Felicity was forced to halt the passage of time by retaining all the material goods that reminded her of the past and made the illusion of delaying change. The house began falling apart and the stuffed parrot started to decay. Nevertheless, the servant would not let these things go. She mourned change and needed a tangible proof to show her that the present had not altered its course. She clung to the past, trying to hold time still and denying the natural flow of events. This reminds me of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot’s wife Ruth was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back into the past instead of looking forward into the future. Nothing is permanent in the world, so there is no purpose in trying to freeze the past. Felicity’s attempts to satisfy the worldly desires of her simple heart were submerged under life’s natural course. Like Heraclitus said, permanence is an illusion and everything is in a process of constant change and movement.

Note: the above reflections on the importance of the present and the irrelevance of the past reminds me of an ancient Sanskrit poem my mom has framed in her room:

Look to this day
for it is life
the very life of life
In its brief course lie all
the realities and truths of existence
the joy of growth
the splendor of action
the glory of power
For yesterday is but a memory
And tomorrow is only a vision
But today well lived
makes every yesterday a memory of happiness
and every tomorrow a vision of hope
Look well, therefore, to this day!