“Charles’ conversation was as flat as a street pavement, on which everybody’s ideas trudged past, in their workaday dress, provoking no emotion, no laughter, no dreams.”
Explore This Quote Further
Analysis of Quote from Gustave Flaubert
In this quote, Gustave Flaubert illustrates the dull and monotonous nature of Charles' conversation. The comparison to a "flat street pavement" emphasizes the lack of depth and excitement in Charles' words. The imagery of ideas trudging past in a "workaday dress" further conveys the mundane and unremarkable quality of his conversation. The absence of emotion, laughter, and dreams suggests a lack of passion and creativity in his interactions with others. Through this description, Flaubert effectively characterizes Charles as uninspiring and uninteresting.
Modern Relevance
In today's fast-paced and technology-driven world, it is easy to fall into the trap of having mundane and uninteresting conversations. Just like Charles in Gustave Flaubert's quote, many individuals often find themselves engaging in conversations that do not spark any emotions, laughter, or dreams. As we navigate through our daily lives, it is important to strive for more meaningful and engaging interactions that leave a lasting impact on both ourselves and those around us.
Examples of Usage
Here is a quote by Gustave Flaubert exemplifying how Charles' conversation lacked depth and emotion.
“Charles’ conversation was as flat as a street pavement, on which everybody’s ideas trudged past, in their workaday dress, provoking no emotion, no laughter, no dreams.” - Gustave Flaubert.
Reflection Questions
Upon reading this quote by Gustave Flaubert, it's clear that Charles' conversations are portrayed as dull and devoid of any excitement or passion. Reflecting on this, we can ask ourselves the following questions:
Have you ever experienced a conversation like the one described in the quote? How did it make you feel?
What do you think contributes to a conversation being flat and unremarkable?
How can we ensure our own conversations are engaging and meaningful, rather than mundane and forgettable?
In what ways can we inject more emotion, laughter, and dreams into our interactions with others?
Similar quotes
“Charles's conversation was commonplace as a street pavement, and everyone's ideas trooped through it in their everyday garb, without exciting emotion, laughter, or thought. He had never had the curiosity, he said, while he lived at Rouen, to go to the theatre to see the actors from Paris. He could neither swim, nor fence, nor shoot, and one day he could not explain some term of horsemanship to her that she had come across in a novel.A man, on the contrary, should he not know everything, excel in manifold activities, initiate you into the energies of passion, the refinements of life, all mysteries? But this one taught nothing, knew nothing, wished nothing. He thought her happy; and she resented this easy calm, this serene heaviness, the very happiness she gave him.”
“La conversation de Charles était plate comme un trottoir de rue, et les idées de tout le monde y défilaient dans leur costume ordinaire, sans exciter d'émotion, de rire ou de rêverie”
“How wonderful to find in living creatures the same substance as those which make up minerals. Nevertheless they felt a sort of humiliation at the idea that their persons contained phosphorous like matches, albumen like white of egg, hydrogen gas like street lamps.”
“This was how they wished they had been: each was creating an ideal into which he was now fitting his past life.”
“I go dreaming into the future, where I see nothing, nothing. I have no plans, no idea, no project, and, what is worse, no ambition. Something – the eternal ‘what’s the use?’ – sets its bronze barrier across every avenue that I open up in the realm of hypothesis.”
“My life which I dream will be so beautiful, so poetic, so vast, so filled with love will turn out to be like everybody else's - monotonous, sensible, stupid.”