A Simple Heart

Content Warning: The novel and guide refer to suicide and attempted rape.

Félicité is the protagonist of A Simple Heart, the narrative of which charts the story of a life marked by loss and exploitation. As a poor, working-class servant, Félicité finds herself at the mercy of 19th-century French society. From men like Théodore who try to take advantage of her sexually to employers like Madame Aubain who mistreat and underpay her, Félicité rarely knows kindness. Her economic hardship is set in place from early in her life. Her parents die when she is a young girl, and after being separated from her siblings, she is thrust into the labor market. At no time is she economically independent, and the extent to which Félicité is overworked and underpaid makes Madame Aubain the envy of her middle-class friends. She spends a lifetime in service to a family and a society that do not value her work or her humanity, and her tragic life functions as a critique of The Power of Social Class in 19th-century France. 

In the midst of this economic hardship, Félicité suffers loss after loss. The narrative structure of the story uses death as a regular signpost for developments in Félicité’s life, even when she is not aware of her relationship to these deaths.