SOURCE: Overaker, Lewis J. “Manifestations of the Holy Ghost in Flaubert's ‘Un Coeur simple.’” Renascence 53, no. 2 (winter 2001): 119-48.

In the following essay, Overaker suggests that in Flaubert's story “Un Coeur simple,” through the character of Félicité and the parrot named Loulou, one is witness “to a serious and triumphant spiritual journey in which the workings of the Holy Ghost are disclosed.”

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

—1 Corinthians 6.19-20¹

The variously interpreted character of Félicité continues to inspire—and to frustrate—the many readers of Flaubert's popular story, most of whom remain puzzled by what seems like a jarring incongruity in the fundamental terms and imagery of the narrative. The title figure in her...