Flaubert was one of the leaders of the realist movement in French literature, which sought to portray life in a realistic manner primarily through the use of an objective narrative point of view and the accumulation of accurate details. He believed in meticulous observation and exact reporting of events. He also held firmly that the writer must not express his opinion through his art—that he must simply tell the story. Thus in "A Simple Heart," the narrator reports the story of Félicité's life without commentary or reflection. The reader is thus obliged to draw his or her own conclusions—much as in real life.