Madame Bovary as a Canon Anonymous 12th Grade

A literary canon is a list of the most esteemed books in a country; books that have attained a high status and considered to be of high aesthetic quality. Canons are works that are approved by cultural and academic institutions. Overall, the books are above all other books in terms of language, meaning, and social impact. Due to the book’s progressive nature, Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary is canonical since it served as a severe critic to French Society in the 1800’s by attacking economic class divisions, gender roles, and former romantic beliefs while using metaphors, detailed imagery, and symbolism to further the work’s overall meaning.

In France during the 19th century, the class divisions were so deeply rooted and prevalent; each class having distinct characteristics and almost different cultures. There was a middle class that arose termed the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie were seen as the materialistic byproduct of the newfound French capitalism. This class had “the family and the state still exist, but – the family [was] successively broken down and more [resembled] a relationship of commercial contract, rather than one [that] genuinely [expressed] kinship and the care of one generation for the other; the state...