A Simple Heart

Content Warning: This section of the guide refers to death by suicide.

Since Madame Aubain is “thoroughly irritated” by Loulou, she gifts the parrot to Félicité. Any guests to the house are similarly unimpressed with the parrot, which will not respond when people talk to it. When Fabu, a butcher’s boy, becomes frustrated with the parrot, he tries to hit it. Félicité, however, loves Loulou. She almost feels as though she has a child of her own. She notices that the parrot likes certain guests, including Bourais, who laughs at the bird. Félicité takes Loulou outside for a walk but loses him when she places him down on the grass. For hours, she runs through the cold town. When she returns to Madame Aubain to tell her what has happened, Loulou is already in the garden. Though she finds Loulou, the strain of running around in the cold causes Félicité to contract tonsilitis. The illness leaves her almost completely deaf. As a result, she spends more time inside. She cannot talk to people or take instructions from Madame Aubain. The only sounds she can hear are those made by Loulou. Félicité and her parrot have long, nonsensical conversations that make Félicité happy.

When Félicité comes downstairs one day, she discovers that Loulou is dead. She immediately suspects that Loulou was killed by Fabu. The parrot’s death deeply upsets Félicité, so much so that Madame Aubain suggests that they take the dead bird to a taxidermist and have it stuffed. They find a taxidermist named Monsieur Fellacher, who lives in Le Havre. Félicité is concerned about her mail being mislaid, so she decides to personally deliver Loulou’s body to Honfleur. The long walk in the dark leads to Félicité almost being hit by a passing carriage, and the carriage driver’s flailing whip knocks her down. When she regains her senses, she is primarily concerned with Loulou’s body. Fortunately, the parrot’s body is not damaged. At the top of a hill, she sees the lights of Honfleur. The sight evokes a rush of painful, nostalgic, and difficult memories. Afterward, Félicité continues her journey and delivers Loulou’s body to the captain of a ship who will then deliver it to the taxidermist.

Félicité waits for news from the taxidermist for six months. She begins to worry that the stuffed parrot may have been stolen. Eventually, Loulou arrives in the mail. Félicité finds a place for the stuffed parrot on the wall alongside the “mixture of religious knick-knacks and other miscellaneous bits and pieces” that she has accumulated over the years (34). Most of these are gifts (items that have been discarded by her employer) or trinkets that remind her of the people she has lost. Since Félicité is so unable to hear that she cannot talk to people, she lives like a “sleepwalker.” The only time she becomes animated in any way is during the religious ceremony of Corpus Christi, during which she sees a painting of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. The painted dove reminds Félicité of Loulou; she buys the picture and prays in front of it.

Paul Aubain gets a job at the registry office. He meets his colleague’s daughter and the two marry, with the colleague promising to “advance [Paul’s] career” (35). When he visits with his new bride, however, she does not get along with his mother. During this time, Madame Aubain receives news that Monsieur Bourais has died by suicide. She learns that he was secretly embezzling and committing fraud. He was also having an affair and fathered a child out of wedlock. This news shocks Madame Aubain. She is thoroughly saddened, which eventually leads to her contracting pneumonia and dying. Félicité mourns the death of her employer; she does not believe that her employer should die before she does. Since Madame Aubain was seen by many as self-centered and haughty, however, there are few other people to grieve her loss.

Paul comes to the house and takes away many of his mother’s possessions. He removes the furniture and the decorations, leaving a bare house. This upsets Félicité, who has developed a deep affection for the small items of the house. She is also sad that the house is up for sale, meaning that she may be forced to leave her room. She will also be forced to move Loulou from the perfect spot in which she has placed him. She has developed the “idolatrous habit” of praying to the stuffed parrot, speaking to Loulou as though the parrot were the Holy Spirit.

Paul leaves with his wife, so Félicité is alone in the house, which soon falls into a state of disrepair. Félicité is too scared to ask for help. She has been left a small income by Madame Aubain, but she is technically living in the house illegally. The only acquaintance she has is Mère Simon, a former shopkeeper who passes by to help with the domestic chores. She also helps to care for Félicité, whose health has begun to decline. With no one seemingly willing to rent or buy the old house, years pass by. During this time, Félicité becomes even weaker. She is told that she has contracted pneumonia, the same sickness that killed Madame Aubain. This, Félicité believes, seems appropriate. When the day of Corpus Christi approaches, Félicité is concerned that she will not be able to observe the holiday. She asks Mère Simon to place the stuffed Loulou on the altar in the courtyard outside the house, ready for when the religious procession will pass by. The priest in the local Catholic church sees the unorthodox addition of the parrot to the altar. He allows it to remain, which Félicité notices and appreciates. She decides to bequeath the parrot to the priest in her will. By this time, the stuffed parrot is decaying, but since Félicité has gone blind, she does not realize. She kisses Loulou before he is placed back on the altar.