A Simple Heart

What is Félicité's final vision and what might it symbolize?

help

Asked by
Last updated by Cat
1 Answers
Log in to answer

Félicité's final vision is of a large parrot circling over her head as the heavens part to receive her. Since the parrot has already been associated with the Holy Spirit, she is imagining that the Holy Spirit is guiding her to heaven. The parrot also seems to have been a stand in for Virginie and Victor. When both of them died, Félicité ultimately fixed her naturally maternal affection onto the parrot. When it dies, instead of adding a keepsake to remind her of the parrot to her collection, she has the parrot stuffed and adds his actual body. After she does that, she begins to confuse the body of the parrot with the body of the Holy Spirit. It seems like the symbolism of the parrot lies in the correlation between the physical manifestation of her love and the physical manifestation of her religion. If this is the case, then the celebration of Corpus Christi, which celebrates the Eucharist, the physical manifestation of Jesus Christ's body on earth, is a particularly meaningful accompaniment to her death. Love and religion are aligned and it is Félicité's very earthly and immediate relationship to them that is the key to her goodness.