Journal Entry 1-15-13

I continue to notice that Emma feels as if she was cheated out of something in life. This comes up again in this passage in Part 2 chapter 3 when she mentions "having a male child was like an expected revenge for all her impotence in the past." (74) She clearly has much resentment for the life she lives and she feels that having a boy would at least give her the joy of seeing him succeed. When she finds out she is having a girl she is instantly disappointed and faints. This does not tell me anything new about Emma, but it does give me further evidence that she is unappreciative of the life she was giving. This continues to make me disappointed about her character.

Blog Entry 1-10-12

"The night was dark; some drops of rain were falling. She breathed in the damp wind that refreshed her eyelids. The music of the ball was stil echoing in her ears , and she tried to keep herself awake in order to prolong the illusion of this luxurious life that she would soon have to give up."

Page 47

"She was there; beyond the ball was only shadow overspreading all the rest."

Journal 1-9-13

Dear Diary,

I believe that a Madame Bovary can be used to look at the culture, but in a cautious way. We can determine what it was like for the main characters, but we are not able to assume that this is what happens to every person in the culture. 
One of the things that we learn about in the first few chapters of Madame Bovary is marriage. In the novel we are able to see that when a couple is married, there are usually festivities that occur. In Charles marriage with Emma, this is especially true. We can also see from the text that marriages are arranged in the culture.
Overall, there is much we can learn from the book but we can not take these things for granted.