Discussion Question #1

1. Discuss social class in Madame Bovary. Is Emma a sophisticated aristocrat born by mistake into a bourgeois prison, or is she simply a middle-class girl obsessed with a richer life? In the world of the novel, are these distinctions meaningful?

Emma is a middle class girl. As she gets older, her dreams and fantasies become more and more encompassing. She has a harder time letting go of what isn't real, and ends up making it more difficult to appreciate what she has in front of her. In the end, we saw Charles as a romantic, going to any expense for his wifes funeral, a trait that she never allowed herself to see.

Her obsession with class, and what she couldn't have, played a huge role in her demise.

We see that class plays a role for other characters too...as the chemist, the first wife, Rodolphe, and other's behavior is dictated by who is involved, who knows about it, and what is there to gain.

I think her problem was that she was born into a upper-middle class with a family that lost most of their money. That makes her acceptance of her class difficult. I really thought that she didn't make the best out of her life. Also in those times (I think it was Victorian?) women were a lot more at the mercy of their family's status.

Emma was aa middle class girl whose mother died when she was young. she went to a convent school and I think both of those things played a role in her romantic idea's about love and station.
You are right, Brienne, there were many allusions to class and classi dissatisfaction. Honestly, I think it pervades society to this day as we all try to keep up with the Jones or pass them by, if poosible, with nicer cars, homes, vacations, clothes. La!

It is amazing what people will do to keep up with the Jones'. I remember how many people I worked with in SLC that worked two or three jobs so they could live in the right neighborhood, and belong to the 'right' ward.