French Literature FRE 241 Assignment: Characters and Society

This assignment analyzes the originality of writing in French literature, focusing on authors like Marcel Proust and Jean-Paul Sartre, exploring their unique perspectives on time, human suffering, and existentialism. The assignment also examines the social conditions of female characters in novels s...Read More

Running head: FRENCH LITERATURE
French Literature
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note

1FRENCH LITERATURE
Question 1:
Marcel Proust through “Creative Inspirations”, has conveyed his originality of writing to
his readers. He was concerned onto portraying the ephemeral nature of time to the readers. He
through his writings brought out the reality and the meaning of all the human pain(Kutt). He
used to say that the human desires are the actual reason for their suffering, in accordance with
this, his writings were original because they dealt with the yield of time and the novels were all
themed upon the search of lost time.
Jean Paul Satre used to write existentialist plays as a French Philosopher. Through his
writings he used to challenge the authenticity of the human lives. His writings were originally
themed upon the social and cultural expectations of the aristocratic and the bourgeois class (Di-
Capua, 2018). He also used to address the oppressions of the class upon the people and making
this the dominant theme of his writings he became popular in portraying the originality of the
then situation. he used to say that by existing in this world and by acting in a certain manner the
humans are successful in giving meaning to their individual lives.
Question 2:
Elisabeth in “Kamouraska”, by Anne Hebert is represented as girl who has three
different identities. He social condition is shattered and has no proper stability. She is “la Petite”
to her mother and her aunts (Leger – Belanger, 2018). They protect her from the nasty world and
on the other hand her social status is defined by her becoming the wife of Antoine Tassy, at the
age of sixteen. She went against the rules and laws of the society and she turns to be a duplicate
and deceitful person to the entire society. Elisabeth gradually turns as “the damned women” in

2FRENCH LITERATURE
the eyes of the society and devoid of love, her social condition takes an enormous turn towards
horror.
The character of Florentine is present in the novel “The Tin Flute” by Gabrielle Roy. She
is represented as one of the poor waitress living in the city of Montreal. Social condition of this
girl is extremely severe as her family suffers from immense poverty. The entire family has led
her to live without the basic necessitates of life. She works in lieu of basic money and in this way
she supports her family (Pinson, 2016). Florentine had also been used of her social condition.
She had been rejected by Jean Levesque , who had lured her of the condition and had promised
to take her away from her state of poverty. This had left her feeling worthless and dejected
because it had been her social condition which was to be blamed of. At the end of the novel, the
character is found to be at the dawn of realization. She understands that in order to find the
financial stability and in order to search for social security in her marriage she had let herself of
several opportunities which could help her to marry her own lover (Pinson, 2016).
The character of Des – Neiges Verrette in Les Belles Soeurs is the character of an old
mail who is seen flirting with a travelling salesman. She has not been married to anuy pther
person, and if she has been, it is not clearly mentioned in the story. Her romantic relationship
with the travelling salesman explains ther social status to a great extent. She helps the audience
to connect with not only one dimensional character but with a person who is three dimensional
with feelings and emotions

3FRENCH LITERATURE
Reference List:
Di-Capua, Y. (2018). No Exit: Arab Existentialism, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Decolonization.
University of Chicago Press.
Kütt, M. Living the Past as a Metaphor: Writing and Re-writing the Past in Marcel Proust’s Time
Regainedand Its Translation into Estonian. Miha Kovač: Spremembe bralne krajine v
Sloveniji: branje leposlovja, 249.
Léger-Bélanger, E. (2018). The body of anxiety in "Kamouraska" by Anne Hébert. Les Cahiers
Anne Hébert , (15), 200-215.
Pinson, G. (2016). Towards a History of Reportage in French Canada: From the Beginning of the
Twentieth Century to Gabrielle Roy. Literary Journalism Studies, 8(2).