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Part 3, Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—Bovary and Homais:
The two primary families featured in the novel, the Bovarys and the Homaises, act as narrative foils to each other, centered primarily on their differing gender dynamics. The parallels between Monsieur Homais and Emma Bovary and Madame Homais and Charles Bovary highlight the contrast between the two families. Monsieur Homais and Emma are both ambitious and often foolish in their bourgeoisie tendencies, but Homais has the means to achieve his lofty goals, such as receiving the Legion of Honour, due to the freedom his position as a man allows him. In contrast, Emma’s ambitions and frivolity lead to her and her family’s downfall.
Furthermore, Madame Homais is passive and tends to her many children, acting as a perfect housewife. Rather than Emma, this behavior mirrors that of Charles, who likewise is the primary caretaker for his child Berthe, other than the wet nurse. Charles’s passivity, such as being bullied into taking on the surgery or letting Emma handle their finances, contributes to the downfall of the Bovary family and only infuriates his spouse. By contrast, Madame Homais’s successful passivity is evident through the behavior of her children and happy husband in Part 3, Chapter 11:
In the house across the square, flourishing merrily, was the pharmacist’s family, and everything seemed to further his contentment. Napoléon helped him in the laboratory, Athalie was embroidering him a skull-cap, Irma used to cut out the little circles of paper to cover the jam-pots, and Franklin could recite the multiplication table in a single breath. He was the happiest of fathers, the most fortunate of men.
Madame Bovary uses the Homais family as a foil to the Bovarys to highlight the hypocrisy of the standards for bourgeois men and women, such that the values that make one character socially irredeemable (usually a woman) can gain another (usually a man) social status.
Related Themes:
