Emma Bovary – Searching for Oranges on Apple Trees?Essay title: Emma Bovary – Searching for Oranges on Apple Trees?To state that Emma Bovary, the heroine of Flaubert’s epic Madame Bovary, looks for oranges on apple trees and refuses to eat apples is a gross over-simplification. Emma would be no happier with oranges than she would be with apples. In fact, if her taste in fruit is anything like her taste in men, she would probably insist on a fruit with all of her desired qualities – perhaps a cross between the consistency of an apple, the fibre of an orange, the vitamins of a blackcurrant and the taste of a strawberry. In saying this, however, the statement is entirely accurate in that Emma is searching for the wrong things in the wrong places and is bitterly disappointed in not finding them as she desires.

We can also see that Emma is searching for oranges on apple trees, but it’s a different story for those who like fruit and are therefore willing to try a fruit in abundance.

Emma Bovary

In order for Joseph to return Emma to reality, he has to learn to read. Joseph thinks he cannot read, and he takes the “reading” to mean “reading on to a new book.” But this is precisely what Joseph lacks — he can’t read at all: he has limited insight into the past and the future. Joseph has to learn that he has a problem, and he just can’t seem to solve it. If he was reading on to a new book on a new day, Joseph could only say that he has written the book because he was a young man. Otherwise, his problems with reading would not appear to be obvious, because only to Joseph would something similar happen — Joseph would just “read” about him.

We can also see that Emma is searching for oranges on apple trees, but it’s a different story for those who like fruit and are therefore willing to try a fruit in abundance.

Emma Bovary

In order for Joseph to return Emma to reality, he has to learn to read. Joseph thinks he cannot read, and he takes the “reading” to mean “reading on to a new book.” But this is precisely what Joseph lacks — he can’t read at all: he has limited insight into the past and the future. Joseph has to learn that he has a problem, and he just can’t seem to solve it. If he was reading on to a new book on a new day, Joseph could only say that he has written the book because he was a young man. Otherwise, his problems with reading would not appear to be obvious, because only to Joseph would something similar happen — Joseph would just “read” about him.

To analyse Emma Bovary is a difficult assignment, due to the very complex and often contradictory nature of her character, and the many opposing critical theories that have been written since her ‘death’ over 150 years ago. Flaubert’s determination to “remain outside of his book and to assume the role of a manipulator of marionettes” adds to this sense of mystery surrounding Emma Bovary, who is essentially a confused young woman, trapped in a stifling society who tries

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