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Setting
Definition of Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like" or "as," but can also... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often... read full definition
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—First Communion:
When Félicité attends Virginie’s first communion at the Catholic church, she finds herself enthralled by the ceremony. In the following passage, the narrator uses an idiom and a simile to capture Félicité’s wonderment:
All through the mass she was on tenterhooks. One half of the choir stalls was hidden from her sight by Monsieur Bourais, but straight in front of her she could see the flock of young girls all wearing white crowns over their lowered veils and looking like a field of snow.
The idiom here—in which Félicité is described as being “on tenterhooks”—communicates how Félicité was in a state of suspense and anticipation throughout the mass. This idiom compares a person’s state of nervous tension to the tension of cloth stretched across a canvas on hooked nails called “tenter hooks.” The simile in this passage communicates how, due to Félicité’s state of enchantment, the veils that Virginia and the girls are wearing look to her “like a field of snow.” This description helps readers understand the quiet spirituality of this moment for Félicité.
This moment is significant to the plot of the story because it is the start of Félicité’s active engagement with Catholicism. While she only has indirect access to these religious teachings and experiences as Virginie’s caretaker, she is still deeply touched by them. In this passage, then, Flaubert communicates how being a faithful person has less to do with access to formal education and more to do with one’s open-heartedness and commitment to their faith.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Félicité’s Loyalty:
Years after Virginie’s death, Madame Aubain and Félicité finally clean out her room together and find themselves filled with grief, sharing a rare moment of emotional connection in the process. At the end of the scene, the narrator uses a simile to capture how this moment changes Félicité, as seen in the following passage:
Mistress and servant embraced each other, uniting their grief in a kiss which made them equal.
It was the first time that this had ever happened, Madame Aubain being, by nature, very reserved. Félicité could not have been more grateful if she had been offered a priceless gift and from then on she doted on her mistress with dog-like fidelity and the reverence that might be accorded to a saint.
The simile here—in which Félicité’s newfound “fidelity” to her employer is described as “dog-like”—communicates that Félicité’s love for, and loyalty to, Madame Aubain increases after their moment of emotional connection. Following this simile, the narrator compares Félicité to a saint because of the depth of her “reverence” for Madame Aubain. Here, the narrator uses exaggerated language to help readers understand how much this moment means to Félicité. As a working-class woman used to being treated as inferior to the people around her (especially in her relationship with Madame Aubain), this small moment of being treated as an “equal” leads her to go as far as to “revere” her often demeaning employer. This is one of the many moments in which Félicité’s deep compassion for people comes through.
Related Themes:
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Like Incoming Waves:
When Félicité finally makes it to Honfleur—after walking for miles and being struck unconscious by a carriage driver’s whip in the dark—she finds herself overcome by emotion. The narrator uses a simile when describing Félicité’s emotional state in this moment, as seen in the following passage:
She was suddenly overcome with a fit of giddiness and her wretched childhood, the disappointment of her first love affair, the departure of her nephew and the death of Virginie all came flooding back to her like the waves of an incoming tide, welling up inside her and taking her breath away.
The simile here compares Félicité’s feelings of “disappointment” about the many tragedies in her life to “the waves of an incoming tide, welling up inside her.” This description helps readers viscerally feel the depth of Félicité’s grief alongside her.
This moment also highlights how little time Félicité has had over the course of the story to truly grieve all that she has lost in her life. In each of the situations she describes (her parents’ death, her fiancé abandoning her, and Victor’s and Virginie’s deaths), Félicité has had to immediately move from her pain in order to survive, a result of her working-class status and how she must prioritize serving others over healing herself.
Related Themes:
