Nov 15, 2009

Madame Bovary | Summary

The narrative begins from the perspective of a French schoolboy, who records Charles Bovary’s first day in his class. Everyone stares at Charles, the fifteen-year-old “new boy” from the country, who enters with an exceedingly embarrassed manner. His classmates soon begin to tease him, ostracizing him for his country manner and dress. The teacher also ridicules him when he can’t understand Charles’s pronunciation of his name and makes him sit on a dunce stool near him.

Charles is an average student, but others note that “he had not the least elegance of style.” After...