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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is unusual about the floors in Mme. Aubain's house?

2. What is Félicité's relationship to Mme. Aubain?

3. Why does Mme. Aubain have to sell the majority of her properties?

4. Where does Félicité sleep?

5. What is placed against the wainscoting in the living room?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Félicité's final vision and what might it symbolize?

2. Why does Mme. Simon nurse Félicité as she is dying?

3. How does Félicité feel about Loulou before she begins to go deaf? How do you know?

4. Why do you think the narrator conceals the real cause of Loulou's death?

5. Why do you think Flaubert has Félicité run all the way to say goodbye to Victor only to miss him at the last?

6. At the beginning of the story, what does the narrator tell us about Mme. Aubain's history?

7. Does Victor seem to genuinely care for Félicité or is he only interested in taking things from her?

8. Do you think it's significant that Félicité misses Virginie's death because she goes back to lock up in case of thieves?

9. Why do you think Félicité's reaction to Virginie's first communion is so much more powerful than her reaction to her own first communion?

10. What do you think Félicité means when she says of Victor's death that "'It doesn't matter a bit, not to them it doesn't'"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Mme. Aubain frequently functions as a foil for Félicité. Find several examples of this in the text and consider how Flaubert uses Mme. Aubain to draw attention to various aspects of Félicité's character.

Essay Topic 2

The procession of Corpus Christi recurs in this story and is a critical aspect of the imagery in the final chapter. In what ways does the significance of this particular celebration relate to the important themes in this story? You should definitely consider how it might mirror Félicité's understanding of religion, but you may also consider and discuss any other relationships that strike you. Be sure to refer to specific examples from the text in your analysis.

Essay Topic 3

In this text, the sacred is frequently paired with the worldly. This is certainly true in Félicité's room and in her religious impressions, but there are also traces of it elsewhere. Where else can you see this mix of the religious and the secular? What do you think Flaubert might have meant by it? Be sure to support your analysis with specific examples from the text.

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