Passage 104 · 1856

"Madame Bovary" - Provincial Manners

Gustave Flaubert · Madame Bovary · translated from French)

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She had read Paul and Virginia, and she had dreamed of the little bamboo house, the negro Domingo, the dog Fidele, but above all of the sweet friendship of some dear little brother, who seeks red fruit for you on trees taller than steeples, or who runs barefoot over the sand, bringing you a bird's nest.

Main effectThrough past perfect reading-to-fantasy, polysyndetic accumulation, climactic structure, and second-person idealization, Flaubert creates syntax of romantic delusion—grammar of free indirect discourse that exposes Emma's sentimental education.

Device index

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Tropes

ClimaxKLY-maks

Building to peak.

Hyperbolehy-PER-buh-lee

Exaggeration.

Schemes

Polysyndetonpah-lee-SIN-duh-tahn

Many conjunctions.

Syntax

Parallel Perfect ConstructionPAIR-uh-lel-iz-um / ˈpærəlɛlɪzəm

"She had read...she had dreamed"—two past perfect clauses. Syntax links reading to fantasy, cause to effect.

Genitive Cascade

"the little bamboo house, the negro Domingo, the dog Fidele"—three noun phrases with definite articles. Syntax catalogs specific romantic details.

Adversative Climaxgruh-DAH-tee-oh / ɡrəˈdɑːtioʊ

"but above all"—strong adversative with intensifier. Syntax pivots from things to relationships.

Genitive Specification

"of the sweet friendship of some dear little brother"—nested genitives. Syntax creates distance through layers of abstraction.

Relative Clause Idealization

"who seeks...who runs"—two parallel relative clauses with present tense. Syntax makes fantasy timeless, ongoing.

Participial Purpose

"bringing you a bird's nest"—present participle showing result. Syntax completes romantic gesture.

Second Person Direct Address

"for you...bringing you"—second person pronoun in fantasy. Syntax makes Emma the recipient of imagined devotion.

Close reading

1Close Reading

Parallel Perfect Construction

"She had read...she had dreamed"—two past perfect clauses. Syntax links reading to fantasy, cause to effect.

Genitive Cascade

"the little bamboo house, the negro Domingo, the dog Fidele"—three noun phrases with definite articles. Syntax catalogs specific romantic details.

Adversative Climax

"but above all"—strong adversative with intensifier. Syntax pivots from things to relationships.

Genitive Specification

"of the sweet friendship of some dear little brother"—nested genitives. Syntax creates distance through layers of abstraction.

Relative Clause Idealization

"who seeks...who runs"—two parallel relative clauses with present tense. Syntax makes fantasy timeless, ongoing.

Participial Purpose

"bringing you a bird's nest"—present participle showing result. Syntax completes romantic gesture.

Second Person Direct Address

"for you...bringing you"—second person pronoun in fantasy. Syntax makes Emma the recipient of imagined devotion.

Stylistic Effect

Through past perfect reading-to-fantasy, polysyndetic accumulation, climactic structure, and second-person idealization, Flaubert creates syntax of romantic delusion—grammar of free indirect discourse that exposes Emma's sentimental education.