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Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis:
“A Simple Heart” is set in and around the town of Pont-l’Evêque in northwestern France. The story covers Félicité’s life from birth to death, spanning much of the 19th century in the process. That said, the bulk of the story is set around the 1830s. This becomes apparent in the following passage from Chapter 3, when the narrator references the “July Revolution”:
One night, the driver of the mail-coach arrived in Pont-l'Evêque with news of the July Revolution. A few days later, a new subprefect was appointed: the Baron de Larsonnière, who had previously been a consul in America.
As Flaubert expected his contemporary readers to know, the July Revolution was a political uprising in July of 1830. Often referred to as “The Second French Revolution,” this uprising featured protestors seeking to protect their civil liberties (such as voting rights) and led to the replacement of King Charles X with King Louis-Phillipe as monarch. As the passage indicates (via the mention of the Baron de Larsonnière’s arrival to Ponst-l’Eveque), many political positions were shuffled around in the wake of the July Revolution.
While Flaubert doesn’t spend much time focusing on the effects of the revolution—such as the ongoing political unrest that plagued the country for years—he references it here in order to add to the realism of the story. He also likely hoped to draw readers’ attention to the ongoing war between the powerful (wealthy) and the disempowered (middle- and working-class people) in France at the time. In many ways, the working-class Félicité lives the negative effects of class stratification in France at the time, and Flaubert shows her experiencing extreme abuse and exploitation from a very young age.
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