A Simple Heart The Home Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)

Quote #7

All the old things which Madame Aubain no longer wanted, she took for her room. (4.29)

We just talked about the importance of Félicité's room as her home; now we can see that the reason it's compared to a "bazaar" (in the prior quote) is that it's full of hand-me-downs. Félicité never has any money, so she doesn't buy things for herself. Her home is a borrowed room in a house, and it's filled with other people's belongings.

Quote #8

Madame's armchair, her pedestal table, her foot-warmer, the eight chairs: all were gone! There were yellow squares on the walls where the prints had hung. They had taken away the two bunks, with their mattresses, and in the cupboard not a single one of Virginie's things was left! Félicité climbed the stairs, beside herself with sadness. (4.44)

After Madame Aubain's death, it's unclear what Félicité's fate will be with regard to the family home. This is where it gets real; she might have lived with Madame for fifty years, helped to raise Paul, and basically run the household all that time, but when it comes down to it, the home is for the family, not the servant.

Quote #9

The next day, there was a poster on the door. The apothecary shouted in her ear that the house was for sale. (4.45)

When Félicité finds that Paul has put Madame Aubain's house up for sale after his mother's death, it's a shock not only because it is a change; it's also a threat to her life. As an old, deaf, and penniless woman, she literally has nowhere else to go. The utter disregard for Félicité on Paul's part upsets her sense of home.