Lessons from Madame Bovary

"Madame Bovary" is a novel written by Gustave Flaubert (12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) and published in 1856. The novel follows the life of an eponymous character, Emma Bovary, as she navigates her new life. Emma quickly realizes – not without surprise – that the life she was living was far from what she used to read about in books. To remedy the situation, Emma found herself venturing into unscrupulous endeavors. Slowly, her life started taking an unexpected turn, and ultimately, culminated in an unfortunate ending.

While multiple lessons can be drawn from Gustave Flaubert's magnum opus, three chief lessons, in my estimation, jump out:

1. High and idealistic expectations should be balanced with a reasonable dose of realism. In instances where our expectations are not met, a dose of reality can go a long way, because, let's face it, we can't get everything that we want. In Madame Bovary, it is clear that Emma could have benefited from a painful dose of realism to balance her idealistic imagination.
2. Certain things will simply be out of our control – no matter how much you try. Sometimes, even when we try so hard, things just don't work out. Sometimes you might be to blame because you failed to do what is expected of you. However, some other times, things just don't work out, perhaps because, in the words of one of the characters, "It is the fault of fatality" (Page 455).
3. Our choices dictate our fate. The consequences of Madame Bovary's choices followed her to the end. At first, the consequences seemed trivial and manageable, but as her questionable choices accumulated, her situation ultimately morphed into a monster that was too hard to tame.

This book is a pure delight. Every detail of the story is brought to life by the author's unparalleled ability to describe even the most mundane of situations with both precision and accuracy. Legend has it that Gustave Flaubert was obsessed with finding le mot juste (the right word). And it shows.