The Awakening is author Kate Chopin's turn-of-the-century masterpiece. Often compared to Madame Bovary, this short novel tackles some of the same issues that appear in Flaubert's work.

Candide (1759), by the French author Voltaire, is an earlier example of a work in which the experiences and perceptions of a naive character are used to produce an ironic commentary on society.

Winston Groom's 1986 novel Forrest Gump also uses the life of a naive and good-hearted protagonist to comment on the society of its time—in this case, that of the United States in the late twentieth century. The film adaptation, starring Tom Hanks, was released in 1994.

The Letters of Gustave Flaubert is translator and critic Francis Steegmuller's collection of Flaubert's correspondence during the later years of his life. Entertaining and informative, these letters offer a fascinating look at the author's life and times.

Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert's best known and most controversial novel, was the subject of an obscenity trial in 1857. The characters of Emma Bovary and Félicité make for interesting comparisons.

Three Tales, the collection from which ''A Simple Heart’’ is taken, also contains the stories ‘‘The Legend of St. Julien l'Hospitalier’’ and "Herodias." It was the last work published during Flaubert's lifetime, and it was the one most quickly written. It is also interesting as a trilogy, as each tale has a successive relationship to the others.