Madame Bovary: Part 2

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Madame Bovary: Part 2

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1wookiebender
aug 12, 2010, 6:46 am

Setting up the thread for discussion of the second part of Madame Bovary, which is about 120 pages long.

2technodiabla
aug 30, 2010, 12:13 am

"...human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars."

God, the man in genius!

3technodiabla
aug 31, 2010, 1:21 am

Just finished Part 2. I love the book and the writing more and more, but I like Emma less and less. She's really a spoiled child who refuses to grow up and take responsibility for herself, her home, and her child. She's getting to be pathetic. I can't tell yet what Flaubert intends the reader to feel for her. There are certainly tragic heroines that evoke more sympathy from me than does Emma Bovary. Emma's right up there with Anna K. in my book.

4Donna828
aug 31, 2010, 5:03 pm

>2 technodiabla:: That was a great quote!

I'm still having trouble identifying with Emma Bovary and her 'vaporous airs.' She is way too hypocritical and melodramatic for me.

The closest I could come to mustering up some sympathy for her was when she tried so hard to confess to the local priest or at least get him to listen to her, and he either wasn't "getting it" or just didn't want to hear it. I felt badly for her until she once again rejected Berthe. What a cold mother.

I thought it was interesting for a "shocking" book about adultery to be so mild in that respect. She didn't succumb to Rodolphe's seduction until almost the middle of the book and the sexual scene was anticlimatic: "...with a long shudder and hiding her face, she gave herself up to him." (Pg. 150 in my edition).

I liked this part much better than the very dry Part One. I'm eager to see how it plays out with Leon back in the picture.

5DanMat
mar 3, 2011, 11:47 am

>4 Donna828:

Do we really have to identify with characters to such an extent? You're reading the book now, but when you finish, think back and ask yourself if Flaubert should have made Emma more sympathetic.