Madame Bovary Discuss the contrast between the wedding feast and the ball banquette and how they develop the theme.

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There is a very notable disparity between the wedding feast and the banquette at the ball description. When Gustave Flaubert describes the wedding feast, he focuses more on amounts and magnitudes whilst the Ball banquette emphasizes more on smell and imagery. The feast at the start is described by using quantities, for example “six dishes”, “three legs of mutton” and “four chitterlings”. These creates an image on the reader’s mind of abundance, a more visual portrayal rather than sensory. But latter on is described in taste as “succulent” and in appearance as if it had an “elaborate confection”. These descriptions may be written in this order so you get the idea of firstly looking at it when walking into the feast and then really paying attention to details on it. The descriptions of the feast denote that it is not a high class meal, with the descriptions of the food, we can notice that the food served is not very expensive and the way he describes it makes it seem like if the food was not so elaborate but well served. Also in the wedding description, the author mentions the things that are visible like “country roads” and “stucco statues” but doesn’t explain them in full detail, leaving the rest to the reader’s judgment. This creates a unique environment on each reader’s mind, allowing the text to be interpreted in many different ways, it becomes more versatile. In the other hand the ball banquette is described more in terms of senses by using odour descriptions like “the smell of roast meat” and “a mixture of the scent of flowers” which make the person who reads the text savor the food and live the play as if they were in it. This type of depiction is very effective in making the reader attain interest on the text and really envisage the scene. The author doesn’t mention quantities but quality is implied in all descriptions. The

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