English 204
Felicite adores her pet parrot Loulou very much while it is alive, and gets it stuffed after it dies. Felicite and Loulou seem to have a multifaceted relationship, and Gustave Flaubert uses the stuffed parrot as a means of satirizing religious though by depicting it as an embodiment of the Holy Ghost. Through Loulou, Flaubert seems to be mocking all parrotry, and he makes the parrot mindlessly repeat all sorts of clichés. In fact, the parrot’s own name comprises the repetition of the word “Lou.” There is a scene in the book when visitors to at the house are admiring ...