A literary canon is a list of the most esteemed books in a country; books that have achieved high status and are considered to be of high aesthetic quality. Canons are works approved by cultural and academic institutions. Overall, the books are above other books in terms of language, meaning, and social impact. Due to the progressive nature of the book, Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary is canonical as it served as a severe critic of French society in the 1800s by attacking economic class divisions, gender roles, and earlier Romantic beliefs while using metaphors, detailed imagery, and symbolism to further delve into the overall meaning of the work. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay In France during the 19th century, class divisions were so deeply rooted and prevalent; each class has distinct characteristics and almost different cultures. A middle class called the bourgeoisie was born. The bourgeoisie was seen as the materialistic by-product of newfound French capitalism. This class had “the family and the state still existed, but – the family [was] subsequently broken up and more [resembled] a commercial contract relationship, rather than one [that] genuinely [expressed] kinship and care of a generation for the other; the state [retained] its essential instruments of violence, but increasingly [came] under the dominion of commercial interests, reduced to acting as a buyer and seller of services on behalf of the community” (www.marxists.org). Evidently this class was characterized by existing simply for the sake of production, a true working class. You could never go up in wealth and you could never go down, if you were middle class it was almost impossible to progress economically unless you were hit with debt or any other unfortunate event. Flaubert is seen criticizing the bourgeois class using his realistic style of writing and centering Madame Bovary around this middle class. It tells the life of the beautiful Emma Bovary, just married. Although she is initially satisfied with her bourgeois lifestyle, she shows increasing discontent with her wealth despite having reasonable living conditions, a loving husband named Charles, and eventually a daughter. He could not stand the “small living room on the ground floor, with the smoking stove, the creaking door, the sliding walls and the damp floor” (Flaubert 79) compared to the “castle, a modern building in the Italian style with two projecting wings and three in front of there are stairways in it, lying at the bottom of a large park” (Flaubtert 59) which belonged to the Marquis d'Andervilles, once a patient of Charles. Her time at the castle was the life she dreamed of and she thought she deserved to live in a wealthy home and lifestyle while her husband “looked good and felt good” (Flaubert 74) and was still irrevocably in love of his wife. Although Emma was continually spoiled by her adored spouse, she was allowed to buy such luxuries as “a Gothic kneeler, spent fourteen francs in a month on lemons to clean her nails, wrote to Rouen for a blue cashmere dress, and chose the most beautiful sash of Lheureux, to be worn around the waist over the dressing gown” (Flaubert 137) yet she was never satisfied with what she had. “The lust of money and the melancholy of passion, all fused together into one general misery. He would get irritated by a poorly served meal or a door left ajar; she was saddened by the velvet she did not possess, by the happiness that passed to her, by the height of her dreams and by the smallness of her house” (Flaubert 121); this general unhappiness is theresult of a middle class lifestyle with little or no upward or downward movement in wealth. By showing Emma's greed and inability to derive any kind of pleasure from the stable life she currently lives, Flaubert highlights the struggle of the bourgeois and shows how French capitalism was unjust. The middle class worked for several hours a day but the result was only to put food on the table, not buy sumptuous clothes and throw balls in a castle like those born rich. Emma embodies the frustrations of the middle class created by an unjust capitalist system in which the upper classes are only rich because of family wealth, the poor are mistreated, and the middle class bears the brunt of the workload. In addition to making Emma Bovary the protagonist, Flaubert uses her to criticize the role of women in France. Time and time again, Emma is seen only as an attractive wife, essentially treated like an object, but no one takes her intelligence into account except Leon, her first affair. Her father also ignores her, stating that he "wouldn't mind getting rid of his daughter, who was of little use to him in that place... so when he saw her daughter's presence it made Charles' cheeks blush - which meant that one of these days he would ask for her hand… he said to himself, 'If he asks for it, he will have it'” (Flaubert 36-37). He even treats her as if she were an object, selling her to Charles because “she was right at that time having to sell twenty-two acres of his land, and he owed a lot of money to the bricklayer and a lot of money to the saddler". ..." (Flaubert 37). Emma may have been able to draw, play the piano, read, recite poetry and sing, but she too was aware of her place in society and even said that she hoped her son would be a "son... can explore passions" and continents, can overcome obstacles, reach the furthest joys a woman is constantly hampered. At the same time inert and flexible, she must deal with both physical weakness and legal subordination. There is always a desire that pushes and a convention that holds back” (Flaubert 101). Flaubert shows how women were mistreated and continually ignored, valued only as potential wives and lovers despite his knowledge. 19th century French society was patriarchal, men were responsible for the home and finances while women were expected to appear attractive, keep the house in order and take care of children. Women were expected to remain docile, religious and obedient. Flaubert shows how society repressed women by detailing Emma's thoughts and actions. Flaubert chose to write Madame Bovary in a realistic manner, rather than the earlier published novels which followed romanticism. It focused on the middle class and showed how the old romantic ideals were far-fetched and crippling to those struggling to achieve them. He creates Emma to be trapped, almost suffocated, by her mundane middle-class life. His thoughts on love are unrealistic after reading "[novels] about love and lovers, damsels in distress fainting in lonely lodges, postillions slaughtered all along the way, horses ridden to death on every page, dark forests, problems of the heart, promises, sobs, tears, kisses, rowboats in the moonlight, nightingales in the grove, gentlemen as brave as lions and gentle as lambs, too virtuous to be true, always well dressed and crying like fountains" as a teenager ( Flaubert 49-50). She grew up believing that these fantasy love stories were the embodiment of true love. If he has not experienced anything approaching these ideals, then it is not truly love but simple affection. This shows when Charles does not meet the.