Book of September - Madame Bovary

End of our holiday at length. You might have become listless during those days that almost count to a dozen - though you may feel somewhat guilty when you find yourself saturated with idleness, that’s a natural phenomenon. 

Perhaps, if you linger into that abject listlessness further, it would turn out a bit different or not just a bit, a prelude to the abyss that you never, ever had anticipated. <Madame Bovary>, a widely acknowledged classic of realism literature, presents us with a newly-wed, youthful lady of pulchritude; her name being quite infamous, ‘Emma Bovary’.

What Emma went through before her unstoppable downfall was simply an aristocratic ball that gave her a feeling that was somewhat similar to ecstasy. She wasn’t the kind of figure that must have been stunned and overwhelmed by such boutiques. During her whole childhood and the few years before her early marriage, she fully relished the privileges of ‘upper-middle class’ - schooling from a convent that gave her sufficient instructions for a ‘cultured’ woman and her protective father tried his best to make the best of his daughter. Her slothfulness began from the intermittent leisure and though she never thought of craving it and never fully recovering to her normal lifestyle, she actually did and fell into a dopamine-craving life that is simply a continuation of satiating her instant needs and it was mostly a lust. Because of the irrepressible recklessness that dominated her, her innocent husband and pitiful child were handed over a bountiful of debts.

What these myriads of dramas present us is the ‘danger of lingered idleness’; we might relish our occasional rests, but must refrain from further craving, habituated listlessness. And its practice after Chuseok would much more be with ease along <Madame Bovary> and empathizing heroine, Emma. 

As Emma proceeds on her downward spiral into her desires and fantasies, we realize the grim consequence of such indulgence unchecked. The desire for a more thrilling, luxurious life pushes her into affairs and lavish spending, which, in turn, pull reality from aspiration even farther apart. Such an unattainable life ultimately ensnares her in disappointment and desperation.

The reason Madame Bovary is such a captivating novel is because Emma's story personifies the risks of idealistic expectations. Gustave Flaubert perfectly captures the dangers inherent in a situation where one becomes increasingly dissatisfied with the humdrum of life and then relentlessly pursues an illusion of greatness. This is a book that invites introspection into our desires and into the merciless results ensuing from the zeal with which we follow them.

And so, as we get back to the old routine after these Chuseok holidays, Emma Bovary will remind us how this thin line is drawn between aspiration and recklessness. Her story beckons us for balance: between dreams and means, rest and purpose, lest it is we who get caught up in some pursuit to the detriment of satisfaction of self. Let this be a lesson from Madame Bovary-that we should learn to be content with our lives as they are, to put a bridle on our longings with patience, and to make efforts toward our aspirations, but keep our feet on the ground.