Is Felicite a saint or a simple-minded servant? Or is she both? Or is she neither? Outline your perspective of her character as compared to Mme. Aubain’s. How do they differ?

Felicite was a to me a simple easy going person who didn’t really know much. She was almost oblivious to the outside world it seemed at times. I guess that what happens when there is no way for word to travel. She lived a simple life out on the farm. This is where she learned the ways of the world as she thought they were.

When comparing Felicite to Mme, I find that Felicite is far simpler than Mme. Mme was confusing to me I guess that could just be because of the way I grew up, which was similar to the way that Felicite did in some aspects.

How are women imagined and characterized in the poems you read? What attitude is implied? Is it dual or contradictory? Does Baudelaire give similar weight to the description of men? What definitions of womanliness are depicted, affirmed, or criticized in his work?

 I find these poems rather negative and tough to read for a positive person. He has a condescending tone towards women in his work. There is no real highlighted reason for these negative feelings towards women, yet he still believes they  are nothing and men are ranked way ahead of women.

How are Chidam and Chandara distinct from Rama and Sita?

 It is obvious that these two characters have a terrible relationship, they fight and show hast towards one another through the whole script. One of the best showings of this is when Chandara was on her death bed and Chidam wanted nothing to do with her and just let her die rather than making an effort to save her.

These two characters share the opposite relationship than that of Rama and Sita. Rama and Sita are truly in love it is seen without a doubt. These two characters are devoted to one another for eternity.

Pick a Yeat’s poem and discuss what it communicates to you and why.

 The poem “When You Are Old’ was one that really caught my attention. It reminded me of when I was a little kid at my grandparents playing go-fish when my grandma always used to reminisce about the good times her and her old lady friends used to have on Sunday’s after church playing cards and drinking coffee. The poem made me think, “What will my memories be like?’ I think that the message that this poem sent me was that life should be lived and had fun because when you are old and remembering the things you once did you want to enjoy the memories and not wish you would have done something else.

1. Is Felicite a saint or a simple-minded servant? Or is she both? Or is she neither? Outline your perspective of her character as compared to Mme. Aubain’s. How do they differ?

Felicite is a diligent, if naïve, servant, with a natural capacity for love and kindness. I think she is simple-minded, and despite her hardships optimistic. As for a saint, I would say to an extent. As far as I know, sainthood just means retaining faith throughout your life, which in a way she does. I do not know if she fully understands the acts she copies with Virginie, but she retains qualities I would think associate with a devout Christian, including generosity, unconditional love, and goodwill. In comparison, MMe. Aubain is pragmatic. With a share of her own sufferings, she determinedly perseveres.

3. How are Chidam and Chandara distinct from Rama and Sita?

Chidam and Chandara’s relationship is full of stubborn and selfish conflicts. At times they seem to love one another, which has no true foundation and is rather rooted in distrust and possessiveness. When they fight the outcome is bitterness. Rama and Sita do not fight, although there was the initially disagreement on Sita joining Rama in exile. Overall, their relationship is open and honest, each of them having a clear duty to follow.

1. Is Felicite a saint or a simple-minded servant? Or is she both? Or is she neither? Outline your perspective of her character as compared to Mme. Aubain’s. How do they differ?

A French peasant girl offers drink to French Soldiers in 1914. One hundred years earlier, Felicite would not have looked much different. Photo public domain.

Felicite is certainly described as a simple-minded maid.   Perhaps Flaubert was imagining her as a saint, but I do not think so.   I enjoyed the story, it got right to the point and the descriptions really did give the reader a feeling of having been there.

Illustration from “A Simple Heart”, by Gustave Flaubert.

Felicite is what we would perhaps refer to as a simpleton.   Simpletons are not often referred to as saints.   Saints are somehow accorded some measure of sophistication, even though we are usually only using the word to describe a person’s character.   Felicite certainly possessed a good heart, but as a simple one, she was simply acting upon impulse.   That is someone different from being a person of giving heart and joyous service.   Felicite is doing what she was born into.   Being simple minded, she neither aspired to greatness or fortune and did not resent her position.   Neither did she see that it could have been different.   Enlightenment had not come to her and perhaps if it had, she would have been uncomfortable with it.

I think too, that Madame Aubain would have been also, though I’m stretching a bit here.   She might have found being a liberated or educated woman requiring more of her personal engagement then she would have been willing to give.   One can only speculate.   But we can also admire Felicite’s ability to draw people in with her kindnesses, whether due to her simple nature or a saint’s heart.   Madame Aubain is perhaps deeply affected by Felicite’s devotion and as best she can, moves toward it.   In a similar vein, due to her station and upbringing and the time she lives in, Madame is a simpleton as well.   Neither possessing the power or will to change.

2. How are women imagined and characterized in the poems you read? What attitude is implied? Is it dual or contradictory? Does Baudelaire give similar weight to the description of men? What definitions of womanliness are depicted, affirmed, or criticized in his work?

I didn’t enjoy reading Baudelaire much.   His poem “Her Hair” appears to delight in the beauty and honor of a woman, but then he seems to enjoy the descriptive choices he makes in the, “A Carcass”.   There is nothing flattering in this poem and is a complete flip of the former.   “A Carcass” seems to thrive on describing the type of characteristics a man dislikes about women who dwell in the street or grab at whatever they can get (the reference to the dog or fox dropping the morsel from the dead body).

On the other hand, Yeats describes a vibrant rebel in “Easter Rising, 1916”, with “shrill” voice, passionately debating the issue.   “What voice more sweet than hers when, young and beautiful, she rode to harriers?”   Here is a man admiring the woman who, being of privileged class, is well bred and accustomed to sport, “rode to harriers”, yet he remembers her voice being, young and beautiful then, not so now, filled with passion and “shrill” with emotion for the cause.

3. How are Chidam and Chandara distinct from Rama and Sita?

Perhaps Chandara is not far removed from the traditional Sita. Resolute and devoted, inspite of what is best for herself. Photo pinched of the web, artist unknown.

Rama and Sita complemented each other in honor and fidelity.   Chidam appears to be a bit of an idiot.   Chandara, raised to be obedient, remains so, unto death.   But she considers her duty fulfilled while awaiting execution.   Sita and Chandara are similar women in personal strength, but where Sita is high born and demonstrates such upbringing, Chandara is low born and in a realistic setting.   Life is what it is.   She didn’t ask to be Chidam’s wife.   Where Rama and Sita work together with established roles, Chidam blurrs the lines constantly, leaving Chandara to pick up the pieces.   I think this was a very poignant story in that I believe things sometimes do come about in such a contorted way in cultures where a man’s ego and standing in the small village setting overrule common sense and the women are frequently the bearers of the results.

4. Pick a Yeat’s poem and discuss what it communicates to you and why.

History is my favorite topic to discuss and chew on.   So I naturally gravitated to “Easter Rising, 1916”.   I enjoy the vague clues about such a poem, never really saying what its about, but if you know your history, it begins to ring a faint bell.   As you read on the names seem familiar and the story hidden in the poem takes its shape.   Not being a big fan of poetry, I’m not sure I see the meaning in the imagery of the horse in the stream, hooves and “hens to moor-cocks call;”, but the other stanza’s are fairly clear.   Yeats seems to have been very familiar with some of the rebels who paid with their lives or at least, he was well read about them from the press.   He mentions one in particular;

“This other man I had dreamed a drunken, vainglorious lout, he had done the most bitter wrong to some who are near my heart, yet I number him in the song;”

1. Is Felicite a saint or a simple-minded servant? Or is she both? Or is she neither? Outline your perspective of her character as compared to Mme. Aubain’s. How do they differ?

I sort of think she is both a saint and a simple-minded servant. Everyone knows that nobody is really a saint, maybe even saints aren’t really saints, but there are people in life or in stories that sit well in your heart, and I feel like if there is ever a character like that it is Felicite. Her character is much more pure and simple compared to Mme. Aubain’s.

2. How are women imagined and characterized in the poems you read? What attitude is implied? Is it dual or contradictory? Does Baudelaire give similar weight to the description of men? What definitions of womanliness are depicted, affirmed, or criticized in his work?

I think Baudelaire’s work is pretty much obviously misogynystic as he writes women FOR the men, which belittles the characters of both sexes.

3. How are Chidam and Chandara distinct from Rama and Sita?

They differ in terms of levels of subserviency, which probably has to do with modernity.

4. Pick a Yeat’s poem and discuss what it communicates to you and why.

When You Are Old is short and sweet. For me it communicated a sense of gratitude that in life maybe I can appreciate that at some point my partner and I will be old and one of us will go first, and we can be thankful now that we were loved by the other in youth. I thought it was sweet. But I could have not interpreted it too well either.

Felicite is nether a saint or a simple minded servant instead she is simply a very lonely human being. In contrast to Mme. Aubain when someone in Felicite’s life dies she seems to hold onto them for the rest of her life never really letting go. Mme. Aubain goes through loss to but she seems able to get over it going on with the rest of her life and continuing to make new connections with other people.   Felicite on the other hand makes a few connections with people in her early life and then loses one by one all of them only making a new friend with the parrot Loulou late in life. Until she dies alone and has Loulou meet her in the afterlife she also then knows who loved her too.

The women depicted in the poems are shown to be different depending on the poem. In To The Reader women are shown to be the only real people in the world who are dealing with animals. They try to turn the animals into people but seem unable to succeed yet continue to try for they care about the animals. While in A Carcass women are described as carrion that are desired while ate the same time are repulsive. As if the reader is a buzzard that realizes that it is a buzzard and is eating rotten meat but unable to stop for its the greatest thing they have ever eaten.

Chandra and Chidam differ from Sita and Rama in that their behavior in keeping the story going is switched. In the Ramayana Sita only reacts to the decisions of other characters while Rama both reacts and acts. In the Rabindranath Tagore Chidam is the one who reacts to the choices of other characters while Chandra acts. Chandra does this by making up her mind in the very beginning of the story forcing everyone else to react around that choice even though it kills her. While Chidam makes all of his choices around the actions of others as he changes his mind over and over again. First to save his brother then to save his wife. Never really making any difference.

The poem When You Are Old reminds me of the type of thinking people engage in when they are old and looking back on their life. Thinking about both what they missed out in life and the regrets that they have. Shown in the line “Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled’.

Is Felicite a saint or a simple-minded servant? Or is she both? Or is she neither? Outline your perspective of her character as compared to Mme. Aubain’s. How do they differ?
According to Webster, a saint is an individual who is holy or virtuous and typically regarded as being in heaven after death. From what I read, I wouldn’t consider Felicite or Madame Aubain as a “saint.’ Both of them had such a loving heart! I would characterize Felicite as partially simple-minded, for the simple fact that she completely devoted herself to a parrot. Whatever was thrown her way, she overcame it and attached herself to the bird. On the other hand, Madame Aubain didn’t attach herself to any type of animal, even after she had been through the worst of life.

How are women imagined and characterized in the poems you read? What attitude is implied? Is it dual or contradictory? Does Baudelaire give similar weight to the description of men? What definitions of womanliness are depicted, affirmed, or criticized in his work?
From these poems, I have taken that Baudelaire doesn’t believe that women are capable of doing what a man can do. He belittles women. The poems are so negative! I’m just not sure where his strong dislike for women stems from. He believes that men should be at the top of the totem pole and they could be even higher if it wasn’t for a women holding them down.

How are Chidam and Chandara distinct from Rama and Sita?
Chidam and Chandara are more about fulfilling what they want before anything. They seem to only want what is best for them, even if it means risking a relationship with another individual. Rama and Sita seem to be more of the “helpful’ couple. They always try to do what’s best, even if it isn’t something that they want.

 Pick a Yeat’s poem and discuss what it communicates to you and why.
I really enjoyed Yeat’s poem, When You Are Old. Basically, it was saying that when you get older, there’s a certain book that can be read to help you remember your younger days. It will show those who loved our beauty and the one man that loved you. When we grow older, we can’t forget about our past. It happened for a reason. When we are feeling down, we can look back on our past and it will bring us back to the person we once were.

1.   Felicite is an uneducated person that had been through a harsh and painful life, full of despairs and disappointments.  After being betrayed by the man that she fall in love with, she moved to Pont-I’Èvêque, where she was hired as a servant by Mme. Aubain’s.  Felicite is a simple-minded servant, because she lacks the capacity to understand the complicated intentions of human beings and circumstances associated with human’s executive functions, such as, decision making, planning and problem solving.  She does not seems to understand the social rules based on social roles and economic status, therefore she is unaffected by social pressure and reputation.  She simply lives her life day-to-day, performing her duties with excellence.  At the same time, her love is also simple.  She loves her mistress along with her children for taking care of her economically.  Her love is unconditional.  She is a very forgiving and kind person.  In contrast,  Mme. Aubain is a middle-class widow that lives her life with the expectations of society that comes with a complicated life.  She worries about the economic status and social status of her family, reputation and prestige, as well as, the education of her children, including religious expectations of culture.  I think that there is a hidden symbol, in that Mme Aubain died before Felicite, in that a complicated life will kill you faster.

2.   I believe that Baudelaire’s picture of men is one of despair, is the reality of life in that men are slaves of their own boredom, the inability to set goals and to have a strong will in not giving up until obtaining them.  I perceived that Baudelaire’s depiction of woman is a contradictory one.  The woman in “Her Hair’ is compared to a sea, in which the men floats in her curls or sea waves.  Is a form of escape for men’s reality to a fantasy of pleasure.  It glorifies the beauty of the woman and the pleasure of being in love with her.  In the other hand the woman in “A carcass’ is depicted as a horrifying reality, is compared to a corpse rotting in his path, sickening picture with flies and maggots, waiting to be eaten by a savage animal.  It denigrates the woman, and pictures a grotesque form of a woman.  The fact that its starts by describing how her legs were spread, and compares it to a whore, it gives the impression as if the woman is the one to blame for, as if she is the one that crosses in his path and that seduces man, but the true reality is that her love is as repulsive and terrifying as death.  I think Baudelaire intention is to show two types of woman, both unforgettable, the one that men gets to love and the one that men gets to hate.  It is the reality of life when you fall in love, a chance game.

3.    Chidam is a hard worker husband that is constantly exploited and humiliated due to his lower socioeconomic status.  Chandara is a young wife, who although took care of him and herself properly, was not a submissive wife.  She confronted Chidam for not bringing more provisions when he worked for more hours.  Chidam does not follows his moral duty.  He rather lied to the legal adviser saying that Chandara killed her sister in law in order to defend his brother.  In consequence, Chandara felt that it was better to die than to assume the required gender role in such unjust society.  The story of Chidam and Chandara depicts the reality of living under the regimen of a socially stratified society, for which the moral duty is defined by social and gender roles and economic status, where the upper classes exploits the lower classes and the woman is supposed to be obedient to the man.  It demonstrates the psychological and behavioral consequences caused by the oppression of such kind of social order in the family structure.  In contrast, the story of Rama and Sita portrays that morality has to be based in social stratification in order to achieve a social and moral order.  Rama is depicted as a hero, because he follows his moral and social duty, without any lack of conviction.  He is a prince, and although his socioeconomic status was lowered and he was persuaded by different beloved ones through his dethroning, he still pursued his required moral responsibilities as the prince, husband and son.  Sita is a submissive wife, who followed Rama even into the most dangerous places, who embraces the moral and social role as a wife.

4.   The poem “Among School Children’ communicates to me the harsh reality of life of the process of aging.  As the poet entered in the school of children, he seemed to remembered a girl that was a student, for which he fall in love with:  “Her present image floats into the mind-.’

However, now he realized that she is no longer beautiful because she is old like a scarecrow, but it is better to accept the fate and smile:

“And I thought never of Ledaean kind

Had pretty plumage once–enough of that,

Better to smile on all that smile, and show

There is a comfortable kind of old scarecrow.’

He describes the contributions of Plato, Aristotle and Pythagoras, but at the end of that verse, he states that no matter how great they were, they could not change the nature’s path–to age:  “Old clothes upon old sticks to scare a bird.’  Although I could not quite grasp the concept of the last verse, I believe he was stating that aging is a process of despair.

1. Is Felicite a saint or a simple-minded servant? Or is she both? Or is she neither? Outline your perspective of her character as compared to Mme. Aubain’s. How do they differ?

I believe that Felicite was just a simple-minded servant. She had a very good heart and loved Mme. Aubain’s children very much. She was very devoted to the children and nurtured them a lot. But she wasn’t the smartest person and was naive. Felicite wanted to show her feelings and almost had a yarn to be loved and she showed this constantly, where Mme. Aubain was the complete opposite. She was more independent and even though she loved her kids, she didn’t always have the best intentions for them. Mme Aubain was more abrupt and outspoken sometimes as well, were Felicite was soft spoken.

2. How are women imagined and characterized in the poems you read? What attitude is implied? Is it dual or contradictory? Does Baudelaire give similar weight to the description of men? What definitions of womanliness are depicted, affirmed, or criticized in his work?

Baudelaire is very contradictory with his writing. He talks about how beautiful women are, and describes them with such detail and beauty in his writing. But in the same sense he makes it seem as if he doesn’t like them. He describes younger women quietness, richness, and pleasure. But them went on to describe the older women “in your turn, will be rotten to’. So you would think that he would prefer men, but he goes on to talk about how weak minded they are.

3. How are Chidam and Chandara distinct from Rama and Sita?

Chidam and Chandara do not have a good relationship, they fight and are bitter all the time towards each other. Even when Chandara is headed to her death, Chidam does nothing to try and save her. Rama and SIta however, truly love each other. They support each other and are very dedicated to one another.

4. Pick a Yeat’s poem and discuss what it communicates to you and why.

I really liked the poem “When We Are Old” because it created a more clear picture in my mind. The poem talks about when you are older you will come to a point when you will reminisce about you and the life that you have had or that you wish you had, like the women in the story thinking past loves.

1.  I think that Felicite is both a saint and a simple-minded servant. But I think that she is somewhat inadvertently a saint and less so one than a simple-minded servant. She is very naïve towards the events happening around her, such as the short love story and   the love for an annoying parrot, but the way she deals with these events makes her a saint, in that she manages to do the noble things.  In a way, it is  a situation where ignorance is bliss. Although she gets herself into odd situations, she never does anything wrong nor spectacular.

2. Although both Chidam and Chandara and Rama and Sita are seemingly “made for each other,” a very distinct difference is the ways in which the husbands treat their wives. Rama always seemed to contemplate his wife’s feelings and try to accommodate her, even if she did not decide to listen. Chidam, on the other hand, acts quickly without thinking of consequences.

3. Yeat’s poem “When You are Old” is about an old woman who misses her love. I find it interesting that the first and third stanzas are in the future and use a lot of words dealing with nighttime and sleep, while the second stanza is in the past tense and uses a beauty motif. This leaves the reader in the middle, present time, when the passion is seemingly lost, but the lover is still there. This poem made me feel weird, because I have not experienced any of these experiences in the poem, so instead of being “stuck” in the present of the poem, I haven’t begun the journey in the poem, which is both a nostalgic and hopeful feeling.