Nanny To The Rescue

Upon reading the first few lines of Gustav Flaubert´s A Simple Soul, much is said about the main character, Felicite. You instantly learn about her simplicity, innocence, and effectiveness. As the story progresses we also learn about her position, the maid in widower Madame Aubain´s modest house. This woman was devastated with the loss of her husband and after hiring Felicite became extremely dependent on her, leaving even the simplest of chores to her. Additionally, the care of her two children was left to Felicite, while Madame Aubain rested in her chair or entertained her many visitors, which Felicite was responsible for serving and making them exit when the time was right. In other words, Felicite, despite being an outsider, basically ran the household on her own. It made me think about all the other stories on a maid that fix the household and the following came to mind: Mary Poppins, Nanny McPhee, The Nanny Diaries, and Uptown Girls. It´s a story I have heard a number of times, one that gets old thanks to its never-changing ending (despite the fact that the beloved nanny has left the family, they manage to move on thanks to her great legacy). Is it that Flaubert predicted the 21st century mentality, its likes and dislikes for movies? Or is it this story inspired many others? Or, perhaps, did Flaubert simply follow a current nanny stories that have existed since his time? Hopefully, it´s none of the above. I still hold on dearly to the illusion that an author with such a reputation will surprise me with a completely different, surprising, unexpected ending, one that will leave me satisfied, not bored about seeing the same thing all over again, even if it was the original copy.