First of all, I would like to state my excitement about Canadian Literature in general and the strong role that women play in Canadian culture. Historically, the U.S. has not given women half the attention that female authors have received in Canada; the fact the Gabrielle Roy’s masterpiece was considered one of the most important works during that time period (60 years ago), is exciting to me.
Gabrielle Roy's "The Tin Flute" is an elegant piece of literature that sucked me in from the very start. Sometimes it is difficult for me to trust translated novels as I am always speculative as to whether or not the translator is staying true to the original novel in its native language. As we all know, words, emotions, and concepts differ greatly from culture to culture and language to language, so it is quite impossible to render a novel in its exact form when translated. After Paul assured our class that the novel is an accurate translation to the original French version, I felt much better about the themes and emotions I comprehended throughout the novel.
My initial reaction to the book was very positive. I think a lot of the novel’s success stems from its ability to educate people on the many shortcomings of that time period, and the struggles that many Canadians were forced to endure during a time of war and economic instability. Reading a historical text book would not be nearly as interesting. Roy was very successful in enlightening people about this era, even though she only focused on one family. One might believe that it is limiting to only focus on one family and paint their experiences as the experiences of everyone in Montreal, but that is not Roy’s intention at all. I think her intentions were simply to make it more intimate and real to people.
I had trouble connecting with the characters for nearly half of the novel until I grew more comfortable stepping outside my own time period, and allowing myself to go back in time a bit. Once I made this crucial shift from just reading the words to actually comprehending, digesting, and reacting, I became enthralled with the novel. Even before I made this shift I appreciated Roy’s deeply descriptive language and beautiful prose.
Ultimately, I think the most interesting aspect of this novel is the characters’ relationships with one another. Roy not only creates interesting and even odd familial ties, but also somewhat juxtaposes some of the characters’ interactions with one another.

i have to teach this in French and I am in the process of reading the book. Do you know what the themes are. And how does one teach a novel. Am I looking for character development, plot, imagery...Thanks

When I first started reading The Tin Flute, I was really frustrated some of the characters because of their contradictory actions and statements, like Jean and Florentine; throughout the first half of the novel I was confused and upset with Jean’s character. His constant flip-flopping of liking and disliking of Florentine was obnoxious, but what was even worse was the fact that Florentine fell so hard for Jean that she became obsessed with gaining his affection and approval. I think there is one statement which summarizes the overall theme of the novel; when Emmanuel says to Florentine that she shouldn’t be attracted to Jean, “because you’d be running after your own unhappiness”(142). Almost all of the characters are running towards their own unhappiness. Although I think that each character in the book is pitiful, the middle of the book becomes more interesting. As each character is trying to break away from unhappiness it seems that the narrative suggests that each character is going to have a significant downfall.

In my opinion, one of the most successful and intriquing aspects of The Tin Flute is Gabrielle Roy's use of verisimilitude. A realist novel to its core, Roy's depiction of simple, common everyday occurrences in early Quebec life allows the reader to relate to the main characters and sympathize with their emotions. My greatest connection with the text came during Emmanuel's critique on humanity and war in Chapter 4. Addressing Alphonse and Boisvert, the vibrant Emmanuel states that the temptation to fight is "your only chance to be a man again" (59). In a world where "money invested in destruction destroys itself" (60), Emmanuel believes that true wealth "is in our arms and our brains, the masses. and that's the wealth that'll last after the war" (60). However, Jean retorts that "there's one big difference between you and me. You think it's the soldiers who change the world. And, well, I think it's the guys that stay home and make money out of the war" (64). This resounding critique on wealth and money caught my attention because it displays the opposing beliefs that people share. I could relate to both arguments because Roy proposes them through real, believable people. Roy successfully uses her characters to engage the reader in conversation about our society itself and question the validity of war and wealth. I found the passage to be incredibly compelling.

Although this book was published almost 60 years ago, the social interactions, mind-games, and dilemmas of human behavior remain relevant to any time, past or present. Realism allows any individual to relate and understand the situations and drawbacks of human existence. From a character’s perspective, we would react and play the same games these characters explore in the book, yet as individuals I doubt most would be willing to admit their not-so innocent intentions. Humans love to be loved, but the constant battle to be in the most control is ever constant.

What I find most intriguing about this novel is how war envelops the characters in their everyday life. By the end of the novel all of the main characters lives are severely altered because of decisions surrounding the war. Even today there is the discussion of armies being filled with young men who have seemingly no other possibility to fix their current state, be it financially in danger, undernourishment, or just plain loneliness. Though most resist joining the army for a time, many who “join up” do so in the last moments of desperation, and necessity to support their families. Roy says it herself on page 377, that this Canadian scene could just as easily be painted in Germany, France, or Italy. The inability to find work, constantly struggling to get by and support your family can happen in any era, in any country. This story happens to take place in Montreal during WW II, and yet all humanity can relate to the “human” predicaments of love, poverty, and war. The beauty behind Roy’s work is that these issues are timeless.

It's interesting, when I read Sunshine Sketches of a Small Town I assumed that it would be my favorite book of the course for I truly enjoyed the Canadian Satire, city/small town connection and many other things. But in reading Tin Flute I quickly found out that favorite book assumptions aren't to be quickly made.
My first reaction was to the descriptive writing of Roy. The first one that caught my attention was Roy describing the snow being blown against the houses as a dancer 'being followed by a cracked whip.' There are potentially pages of descriptions to note, but what I took notice of was how she used the weather (sunlight, wind, etc...) as descriptors to set a scene -

- A gentle wind whispered at the window. It was no longer the raucous gust of winter, but a spring wind that shook the last puffs of snow from the trees and made wet branches rub together (162).

- "A good wind brings good surprises, Rose-Anna!" (166)

- The wind moaned in the cracks of the window (154)

- Long after the two men had disappeared, snatched away by the street where a burst of sunlight was struggling against the gray sky (113).

An example would be that the last quote is directly after Florentine was dealing with Jean. The sunlight struggling through the clouds could be said to be a comparing it to Florentine's feelings about Jean or about her life in general. All these nature descriptors, for me, set the atmosphere/feeling of a scene very strongly and are continued well throughout the novel.
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I absolutely LOVE this book. It is soo intricate in a myriad of ways. I feel as though Roy really gets in the "nooks and crannies" of each character's personal, internal struggle.

In terms of the notion of realism, this book has certainly mastered the genre. I seriously find myself in other classes thinking, "I wonder what Florentine will do next" or "What will become of Azarius?!". It is so realistic that in a weird way, I feel like I am connected to the characters as if they were real people in my life. Creepy? Perhaps...but I think that it exemplifies Roy's astuteness of the genre.

I know that some people in the class were frustrated with some characters for various reasons. Whether it be Azarius and his inability to release his dignity/pride, Florentine and her immediate obsession with Jean, Jean's overall mystery, etc., each character has an ornate depth to them.

To me, that is one of the most beautiful aspects of the novel. So many times we read books with characters that we may love or hate for certain reasons, but they generally seem two-dimensional and hard to truly connect with. The people in The Tin Flute portray humanity to a tee, in my view. It is important to take into consideration the situation that all of these characters are in. Sure Azarius could step up to the plate and be a man about it, but consider this: his entire identity has just been shattered, his dignity is holding on by a mere thread after being thrust into an undesirable condition, etc etc. Yes Florentine's sudden infatuation with Jean may be hard for us to understand, but look at it this way: Her whole life revolves around working at the diner and giving her salary to her family...monotonous, dreary and uninspiring to say the least. Then suddenly this mysterious man tempts her with his desire for her and provides her with something new, distracting, exciting and hopeful to seize.

Each character has their own story and motivation for why they act the way they do. I think it is important to have empathy for them and understand them as real human beings, as opposed to neglecting to put ourselves in their shoes and immediately show judgement.

Without getting too into it, I like how someone brought up the notion of wind being very prevalent throughout the book. I noticed that as well, and I am sure Roy sprinkled these references across the novel with intention. If you think about it, wind is the most unstable natural element or force of nature. It won't survive without movement (hm, Rose-Anna?), it can cool one off on a hot day, but it can also create waves in big bodies of water which will eventually cause land erosion. You get the point. I think the way Roy uses wind is not something to dismiss.

Well, I think it is clear that I'm really into this book, and I am so glad to have been introduced to this author.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this book was that it kept me intrigued through each chapter by introducing new characters, new dilemmas, or new insight(s) into their world.

It was interesting to me how much we studied WWII throughout my schooling, and yet how it was always from the perspective of an American, or a German, or a Jew, etc. Only because my grandfather had actually fought in that war as a Canadian soldier, did I even know that Canada was involved. It's sad really, how few people even understand that Canada was not only active in the war, and suffering the same hardships as the U.S., but also that they joined up long before we did even though it was not their war to fight.

Many different scenes in the book come back to the war and its effects on Montreal at that time. Not only have most of the male characters we met joined up by the end of the book, but also throughout, we see the hardships that every character is facing because of it. In the middle of the book we see that Jean was promoted in his factory because the only place there seems to be a lack of workers in is manufacturing and running machinery. This is a concept that is relatively new to people, and therefore all of the other skilled laborers are finding less and less work opportunities because the machines are replacing the need for them.

I think one of my favorite characters, by far, is Jean. He is clearly stubborn, but we know from the beginning that there has to be reasons for this besides spite. Even in the way that he begins to “flirt” with Florentine, he always has his guard up. He is well educated thanks to his adopted parents, and a hard worker (working overtime nearly each week). I think what I like best about him, though, is that he seems to be able to see outside of the St. Henri bubble. I feel like many of the other characters don’t see any opportunity or even hope outside of their current lives…which I’m sure is quite realistic given most of their impoverished states, but Jean sees the fact that he has a skill that can be used anywhere and with a little motivation he will change his life if he’s unhappy with it. I imagine a lot of that attitude comes from his schooling (especially since many parents at the time were not sending their children to school for not having proper clothing, etc.) and learning of what else is out there, but nonetheless he is willing to explore.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and feeling like I got to know each of the character’s quite personally, even if they only had small roles in the story (such as Eugene, or Madame Laplante). I felt like I understood what Gabrielle Roy was trying to tell her readers, and I would definitely read other books of hers for this reason!

The 2nd translation of Gabrielle Roy's Bonheur D'occasion (Tin Flute) was a remarkable read. I have only read one other author who was so meticulous and poetic with details as Roy. The use of focalization was so well done that it's a shame that most novels don't utilize such a spectacular technique; of course, I must refrain, most novelists may not be able to put full use of the technique in such a successful way as Roy. The feeling of entering a character's head, if only for a few moments was really novel and helped drive the characters into reality. Of course, then the focus would zoom out and our peek into the psyche of a character is lost, only to move into the mind of another character. If the main plot of the story was the main room of a house, the moments of entering the minds of character's were analogous to stepping into the bathroom or the living room, the kitchen or back yard. There is such a generosity that is given to the reader to have such insight into the characters for stretches at a time. Despite the "realism" undertones, there was plenty of highly theatrical and pivotal moments. The early scenes between Jean and Florentine, and later on between Emmanuel and Florentine were perhaps some of the most simplistically tender and heartfelt romantic sequences I've ever read.

The idea of taking a real place, real setting, and perhaps even real people for a fictionalized telling of a story of a poor family from St. Henri was surprisingly transparent, in my opinion. For many stretches of reading, I would completely forgot that the narrative was occurring in Quebec. Even the names of places and roads slowly began to seep into my recollections and I would almost glaze over the French names without a second though. The sense of immersion into story made me almost feel like a Canadian reader. It was only during certain slang-type terms that I would have a misstep (it took me about 10 seconds to realize that "rubbers" meant goulashes).

If I were to pick my favorite character, I would say that I most strongly associate with Emmanuel. The hopelessly naive romantic who tried to do everything for Florentine's affection. Emmanuel, who was so patriotic, and yet at the end was almost compelled to stay in Canada just for her. In many ways, I saw a lot of myself (younger, of course, perhaps more naive) in Emmanuel. However, word for word, lb for lb, Alphonse most strongly resonated in my mind. The young man who would essentially spends the entire novel in the bar as each of his former friends leaves to enlist , he resonates the feeling of being left behind, as though he were the personification of St.Henri after the rest of the men leave...with so many never returning.

The two characters I had the most issues with were Azarius and Rose-Anna. I felt that their purposeful complexity were severely limiting to the growth of the character. While many of the other characters were relatively simple, only to be revealed as increasingly complicated in their own way, Rose-Anna and Azarius had the predisposition of being "complex" and I didn't even begin to appreciate either character until Rose-Anna's birth scene and Azarius' words, "be rid of me". Only then, did they come to life in my mind, my earlier feelings of them was that they were like card-board set pieces which other characters, living characters, revolved around.

Another grip I had was with the title of the translation. The title made more sense as "Bonheur D'occasion" (borrowed/second-hand happiness). The french title was perfect, while the English title seemed more as an afterthought to avoid translating the French title.

I really enjoyed reading Tine Flute. If Sunshine Sketches was a simple, condensed, little gem; Tin Flute is more of what a true novel should be. Richly detailed, more of an oasis than a diamond in the rough.

I enjoyed Gabrielle Roy's The Tin Flute. Her descriptions of St. Henri really helped me imagine myself there. I was not sure what to expect when I first started reading The Tin Flute, but right away I was caught up in the inner dialogue of Florentine and Jean. As I continued reading the characters began to reveal more and more about themselves. Roy paints a beautiful picture of the insecurities that we all hold inside ourselves. We see how manipulative Jean is and just when we get to know him he drops out of the story.

The Tin Flute is structured in a way that seems more of a historical recount of the family than a novel. Characters come and go. Things happen spontaneously and all the flaws and triumphs of human nature seep through the pages. I think that Roy did an excellent job in creating a realistic picture of a struggling lower class family and how they cope with their surroundings

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I had always been one of those people who did not read translated novels. I was always under the impression that something was bound to be lost, but I could not have been more wrong. I loved the realism and the verisimilitude that Roy brought into her novel. I felt like I was really looking in on a family and all of their struggles. I was impressed by all the detail she brought through and how I was able to see each of these characters as real people. I do not think I have ever read a novel like this before. I truly enjoyed getting into lower class life in St. Henri. My first impression was one of awe. I was surprised I could enjoy this novel so much. After how much I enjoyed Sunshine Sketches I did not think that I would enjoy The Tin Flute, but I am so glad I was wrong. I wonder what is going to come up next.

I've really enjoyed reading this novel. While at first the characters were hard to grasp, eventually the insight Roy provides into each of their lives creates a picture of a realistic human being in a tough world.
The story between Jean and Florentine particularly intrigues me. Here we see two people struggling with affection in very different ways. Jean, the one holding the control, finds himself oddly trapped by this girl that he convinces himself he wants nothing to do with. And Florentine, caught up in the illusion of love and a bright future sinks further into nothingness as she pines after a man that will never truly be hers. But as Florentine struggles to escape her poverty with Jean, ironically he is the one that is pushing her deeper into it. The two together really illustrate how class and social structure dominate people's lives. While Jean sees something in Florentine that he wants, her poverty holds him back and he ends up using her and treating her poorly out of pity and the need to push her away. Meanwhile, Florentine compromises herself and gives everything to chase this dream with Jean. She is poor and all she can give him is her undying affection, her good looks, and sex. Her desire to succeed makes her more pathetic and abused.
The way the characters struggle through life is both depressing and frustrating. Their emotions and thought processes are so realistic that you find yourself, as the reader, wishing you could jump into the story and help them or slap them across the face. I'm interested to see how the relationships work themselves out and hope to learn that they are on their way to better futures.

I really enjoyed reading The Tin Flute. I think it gives an excellent portrayal of povery stricken Canadians living in St. Henri during the 1940's. I thought that Roy's ability to bring realism to the novel was epic, giving me a true understanding of how some things we take for granted are viewed in the eyes of a poverty sticken family. In reading the novel, I became increasingly frustrated with Azarius' pride and dreaming taking priority over providing for his family. I thought that his behavior was cowardly and heroic in the same breath. He didn't want to pick up any small job to help provide for the family who was suffering, which I felt was very cowardly. But, its almost admirable that through all the harships endured by his family, that he was not willing to take a second rate job becasue he felt he deserved better. I suppose I admire his dedication to his dreams, (although it has a negative effect on his family)and not lose sight of them despite his surroundings.
I am always intrigued by realism, and an authors ability to make the reader feel as though they are part of the novel. I think that Roy did an excellent job in describing St. Henri and the intriguing lives of the characters. Translated books arent really my thing, but this one was a pretty good read for sure.

I can't believe how much I have enjoyed this book! Gabrielle Roy is a fantastic author with so many talents, from the rich descriptions and details that fill the book, to her unique ways of introducing characters and having them play off one another. I was surprised at how the book touched me and made me feel while reading. It has been a long time since a book has created deep emotional feelings towards the characters. Lets take Azarius for instance. Here is the father of a huge family during a time when things were rough. He is a craftsman by trade and when work becomes scarse and he is forced to look elsewhere for jobs, he shuts down and leaves the money making to his eldest daughter Floretine. My feelings toward Azarius range from feeling sorry for him and his position, but at the same time I hate him and resent him for what he is doing to his family. Ok so you can't continue making furniture and doing what you love, but for gosh sakes think about your family and get off your pity-pot, and find a job, any job, to help support your family and lift the burdon off of Floretine.
My feelings are similar for Rose-Anna as well. I pity her and feel bad for her and her situation, but at the same time she creates a self pity for herself and in my opinion ruins all of her credibility towards being a likeable character.
All in all though The Tin Flute is a great book and one worth reading.

I really came to enjoy the novel Tin Flute, and overall I fell in love with Roy's writing style. She did an amazing job of intimately describing the characters, which made me feel connected to them. As Julia said, the more connected I felt to the characters the more I worried about their well-being and the decisions they made. Her technique of characterization pulled me into the story and forced me to keep reading.
Tin Flute is an important piece of work for the genre of realism because it honestly portrays the lives of people living in Montreal slums in the early 20th c. This is why the novel is important, because it makes a statement. For people during that period who were unable to connect to or appreciate the immense poverty occurring in Montreal, Tin Flute created a face for the despair.
Roy's used her ability of eloquent descriptions to burn this image of poverty into people's minds. While Rose-Anna is searching for a new house in the 'spring move' she describes, "A crowd of ragged children were playing on the sidewalk among the litter. Women, think and sad, stood in their evil-smelling doorways, astonished by the sunlight. Others, indoors, set their babies on the windowsill and stared out aimlessly. Everywhere you saw windows plugged with rags or oiled paper. Everywhere you heard shrill voices,children crying, cries of misery coming from the depths of this house or that, door and shutters closed, dead, walled up against if it were a tomb (97)."
If that doesn't paint a picture of a slum in your mind i don't know what does.
Yet at the end of the chapter where Rose-Anna sees some of the greatest poverty in St. Henri, she still has hope. "Her energy came back, along with her old habit of making the best of the smallest advantage (100)."
I liked Roy's use of metaphors to describe escape, escape from St.Henri, from poverty. The ships in the port, the train, the war all represented the escape all the characters were searching. An escape that meant freedom and happiness.
Finally, as Mary mentioned, I really enjoyed the storyline between Jean and Florentine. It was frustrating because Florentine was going after something she could never have yet they were the part of the novel I looked forward to reading. They had such an unbalanced and complex relationship, and the way that Roy describes how both Jean and Florentine overthink their every word and action intrigued me. The way there relationship ended upset me because I was vying for a happy ending to their tumultuous affair, but I guess that shows life doesn't always have a happy ending.

My first reactions to "The Tin Flute" was that it was a complicated romance novel that will be hard for me to not only follow but keep up with the reading. By around page 50 I found myself enjoying the book much more than I originally thought. This novel brings out the charm and beauty of life. It reads like a novel but could also be mistaken as non-fiction because of how well Roy portrays her idea of realism. I like how Roy uses all real places and events in the novel so that it seems that these characters were really there some sixty years ago.

The relationship between Floratine and Jean is the most interesting connection between the characters to me. It is not perfect in any way, in fact it is very flawed and nothing seems to turn out the way that they would both like. Roys descriptions of their thoughts is fun to read since they both come off to each other as kind of arogant and not interested. Mean while you can read how they are both feeling and it brings a close feeling of my life to me. Nothing is as smooth in life as in other fiction pieces or films. One reads these for fantasy and other entertainment that makes us day-dream. This book is realism and helps me make better connections with not only the life of a poor family in the slums of St. Henri during WWII but also my life since it is most certainly not a fantasy.

It is also interesting to learn about the Canadians' feelings towards the then current and now past second world war. They are stuck in a position that is both of confusion and dead-set beliefs. Canada was not directly involved in the war at any point of its duration but sent thousands of troops over seas to help the Allied Alliance. During the novels entireity, the civilian characters are questioning the soldiers about why they decided to "join up". A great deal of it stems back to money since it is a steady and guaranteed pay check which is hard to come by in that place and those times. Others are to support their country, and for Azarius it seems to be to get away from the misery he put himself in. All this reminds me of the current war that this country is in. We do not have a direct or threatened reason to be there yet we are. There is such confusion of why our country is really involved and if it is even worth it in the long run. The realism that Roy portrays makes me reflect not only on the past but on the present that we are living in now.

I was suprised that I truely enjoyed this book. I am not a huge fan of any kind of romance yet at many times I found myself drawn into the story of Jean and Emmanuel and Florantine. Her humor makes the situations interesting and the confusion and shyness of the characters holds true to reality. Only in Hollywood and other fiction I feel that couples are so smooth and perfect to the point, and the characters always find a solution and have a happy ending; here Roy portrays life where not everything turns out as planned and there are many bumps in the road to get where you are heading. I feel that she draws an accurate description of the hardships of poverty and how the beauty of the human spirit can rise above the slums that they live in to make being alive worthwhile.

As with basically everyone else who has blogged on this topic thus far, i also really enjoyed The Tin Flute. Jarvis put it the best i feel, by saying something to the effect of " is Sketches was a tiny gem, then Tin Flute was more of an oasis than a diamond in the rough." Roy's picture of poverty and the lengths to which it effects essentially every facet of life is one of the most honest and beautifully detailed pictures of this oft written subject. From budgeting every penny to Florentine's incessany make-up applicattion, the plot and charactors exlemplify the everyday struggles of the extreme impoverished.
On top of being a moving story of the human spirits, it also ends with this while idea of what a person;s life is worth monetarily and the different reasons people would sacrfrice themselves for their country, from Azarius's need for steady pay to support his family to Emmanual's need for a sense of direction in a mass of confusion. I look forward to blogging again for the second topic as i also found that passage about " the enigma" particulary moving and am still mulling around in my brain how exactly i feel about it. Another good read!
untill later
j

I enjoyed this book from the first, to the last page. It sucks you in as you become engrossed with the simple, even meaningless, yet entertaining lives of the characters. Their struggles may be mixed together throughout the story; but a clear picture of what makes each one tick is definitly gained through reading.

The struggles that people have been enduring throughout time are often the subject of stories, as is true with Tin Flute. These character's lives are easy to relate to and inspire many feelings in the reader. I truely felt the pain of the relationship between Azarius and Rose-Anna. I look forward to discussing this novel further in class.

The element of this novel that I enjoyed most was Roy's ability to capture the essence of the characters. From the opening of the novel, the courtship of Jean and Florentine illustrated Roy's ability to create real tension between characters and convey that feeling to the reader. I feel that the long, descriptive narration that strung together the passages of dialogue in the novel set up each scene really well and conveyed the emotion of each scene brilliantly.

The book took on a very "realist" tone, I would say, and I think that Roy 's graphic and descriptive writing style worked well towards achieving that. A scene that always comes to mind is Florentine's presence at Emmanuel's swank party, where a working-class girl like herself was awkwardly out of place. In this scene and many others, such as when Rose-Anna visits Daniel in the hospital, Roy successfully made me actually care about what happened to the characters, something that doesn't happen in too many novels.

As Andrew said before, I'm surprised I enjoyed this since I'm not the biggest romance fan, but I feel that this book was realistic enough in terms of plot-line (not happily ever after) to make it interesting.

At first I found that The Tin Flute was hard to get into. I did not captivate me like Sunshie Sketches had. However, as I kept reading I kept getting more and more into it. Of course it helped that I am a hopless romantic and just know that everyone will find their "lobster" but it was not even the element of romance that roped me in. I loved the way that all the characters were portrayed and how real they felt. I felt as if I knew them personally and I only wanted the best for them all.

When I first started reading The Tin Flute I was disappointed. I thought that I was in for a long boring read and wondered how a book like this could have earned the reputation it has. However as the pages passed I learned that I need to read more than twenty pages of a novel before I judge it. While I was reading I was afraid that the translation may not be as good as the original language. I have read other translations and they tend to fail on the exact portrayal of emotion and words. Paul did tell us later in class that this was a translation do well so I read the novel for what it was.
I believe that Roy did a great job of portraying the lifestyles of poor Canadians families during this time. I am familiar with Montreal and when I saw names of streets that I knew I had a closer connection to the characters. I have been to those places in the book so I was able to have an accurate visual image.
I think the most powerful aspect of this novel is the characters. I was able to connect with a few of them (Rosa-Anna and Florentine). I however was extremely frustrated with Jean character I did not like the judgments he made about the other characters especially Florentine. I found him to be a selfish man. His character was unlikable and seemed superficial in most situations. I was inspired by Rose-Anna’s constant determination to better things for her family, even when she had been pushed down so many times she still manage to get back up.

Even though this book was published 60 years ago, the social interaction between characters as well as the way the characters in poverty act reflects similarly how people in a similar situation today would be reacting. The characters in poverty that prove to be good examples of how people today would act are Florentine and
Azarius. Both characters show what I would consider to be a typical characteristic of those in poverty, hope and dreams.

Although both these characters are somewhat destined to poverty they never seem to give up clinging to any possible scheme that will taken them out of the gutter. Azarius with his belief that he can practice his trade, something he hasn't found work in in years and Florentine with her hope that Jean, who she hardly knows when she begins believing that he is the one that will take her out of the gutter and she will never let him go. Both of these actions show the characters hoping and dreaming although they ultimately settle for something less, that won't improve their lives. Other characters such as Jean show that money does indeed rule the world and peoples lives and he unlike Emmanuel, isn't willing to bring anybody to the top with him and actually enjoy what he is going to earn.

I think that all characters, save Rose-anna, show that people are out for themselves most of the time, which is a human trait I think most people have but aren't really willing to say because when it comes down to it, Florentine would have gone off with Jean and left her family poor if the opportunity arose, Emmanuel would have stayed in Canada to be with Florentine if he could have, Azarius will make his family be poor by hoping to find a job in his trade and Jean would run over anyone to make his way to the top.

I think the book does a great job of portraying the human character and and the way that people interact with each other. Roy does a great job of bringing a wide array of persona's, all in a similar situation, together to show just how life is. Most of these interactions and beliefs hold true today in my opinion because the fact is people haven't really changed in the past 60 years, just become technologically more advanced.

Before reading "Tin Flute", my friends described it to me as a war novel. Discouraged, I cracked open the book to reveal the strangest and perhaps most captivating war novel I have yet laid eyes on. Having expected violence and bloodshed, I was instead thrust into a tormented love triangle. Set on the Canadian home front and away from the action of warfare, I had initially assumed that Roy wrote this for the Canadian women left behind to raise families. However, the philosophy of wartime frequently interrupts the romance, seeming to give Canadian men equally powerful reasons for and against enlistment. I was most struck by the poverty that pervades the novel's atmosphere and the lives of every character. Roy appeals to our human compassion through her intimate portrayal of human suffering. The realism makes the novel move at the pace of a film, with highly emotional scenes. Unlike a film, her realism simultaneously draws us even closer to the characters by exposing their thoughts, which are deeply personal, not always flattering and often in direct opposition to their actions. Roy explores the struggle to escape the paradoxical cycle of poverty, exploited by war and perpetuated by peace. Roy creates an image of suffering which is not easy to shake.

Unlike “Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town,” I really enjoyed reading Roy’s “The Tin Flute.” I felt as though everything Roy described in her novel, added just a little bit extra to give the reader a better sense of who the characters were and what their lives were like. I think Roy does an excellent job of keeping the reader interested, by making them feel as if they’re a part of the novel.

I don't think I would have guessed that the book was published 60 years ago.

The most interesting part of Roy's novel was the way that she ended it.

The Tin Flute is incredibly well written, so much so that I really struggled to get through it. Even the fist couple of chapters were difficult for some reason. After some time to let the novel sink in and then skimming back over the initial chapters I discovered what it was that made it so hard for me. The characters are so well developed, even this early on, that I found myself identifying with them right away, especially in the first two chapters.
The way that Roy portrays the flirtation between Florentine and Jean and the aftermath of it was so real that it actually affected me as if I was one of the two. I felt Florentine's flutter as "she glimpse Jean Levesque's profile, and her heart knew, with a sudden dizziness as from a wound, that this boy could never again be a matter of indifference to her" (16). Granted that at this particular moment she is on the border of hating Jean, but she is still intrigued. That feeling: a slight hesitation, a moment that seems to slow. I'm sure we've all felt something akin to this and that is why Roy is able to pull it of. She continues to do this for the remainder of the book, creating characters that, on some level, we see a bit of ourselves in.

This novel is leaps and bounds from that of Sunshine Sketches, as it takes a much different angle at a presentation of life and the human condition. Obviously, the reason for that is at the time it was written when, while people generally supported the way more than most people do today, the effect on people's lives left them no less likely to look at the world in more of a cynical way. Florentine is a character that one can immediately feel compassion for, as she needs to work to support her family in hard times and in a place that is less than forgiving.

She then meets Jean Levesque, and later Emmanuel, and gets thrown into a cycle that really puts all of them in an akward and unrewarding position. What really sticks out to me is the choice in the translation of Bonheur d'occasion. This novel would be far better suited for a what the title actually means, "secondhand love" rather than "the tin flute" which is relatively insignificant on a grand scale. Secondhand love makes all the sense in the world for what this novel is about, as it is a up close and personal look at struggle, the need for love, and how that effects peoples lives.

I found the most interesting part of The Tin Flute to be the incorporation of music into the novel. Granted, this may not be the most profound or important part of the novel, but it was interesting to me. This period in history was an exciting time for jazz music. We’d more or less past the height of the bee-bop sound of artists like Count Basie, and were on the brink of the 1950’s boom, where a lot of the most well-known jazz musicians found themselves in their prime. Also important to the inclusion of this style at various points in this novel, is the fact that jazz was still a minority sound and style, representative of a certain counterculture.
With all of that said, moments in the novel like when Florentine is sitting, contemplating her frustrating situation with Jean listening to jazz give us a subtle but deeper understanding of the character. Also, Roy mentions specific songs throughout the novel as well, and these songs are works of art in themselves, and their meaning should be considered in the book as a deeper moment of understanding of the character surrounding the tunes. I also noticed that Jean gets frustrated with moments of silence with Florentine at a couple points, and always notes music, bells and whistles, and the general noise that he surrounds himself with.
This may be a stretch, but if you think about the way Roy formatted The Tin Flute, it is in a sense like a jazz piece. A song will typically be based on a main chord progression, or the “head.” The musicians will play the tune together, and then take turns improvising over the head. Each musician has a particular voice that speaks to the conversation between themselves and the other musicians, and you could say that the audience is part of this conversation, too. The way Roy organized this novel is by alternating the voices between the many chapters. We hear a variety of characters’ points of view of, more or less, the same social, cultural situation. From this, we get the impression of each character, much like we get the idea of each musician’s style from a collective recollection of their improvisations. Ultimately, these characters’ accounts, when presented together in a neat little paperback, present the song of this moment in time in Canada in the 1940’s.

Today, in class, there was a lot of negative talk about most of the characters. I agree, to an extent. Someone in class, I believe it was Sandy, stood up for the novel and the characters. I would like to add to this because I also think that these characters and all their flaws make the novel more realistic. Yes, it is frustrating to read these stories about Azarius, Rose-Anna, Florentine but I believe that is part of reading this book today. A lot has changed since this book was published, but certain things still remain. There are more opportunities for people today; however, there are still people who are having more and more babies and they are not able to support them. These characters are flawed and they are portrayed as selfish, irresponsible and naive. On the other hand, they are only human. The flaws and frustrations of all of these characters is what brings the realist element to the table.
I didn't have a strong reaction to the book. There were certain parts that were more interesting than others but all in all I viewed it more as a documentation of what life was like during the 1940's in Montreal. I visit Montreal often so it was really neat to hear reference to places that I have been. It was fascinating to hear a story about a certain street, what it looked like, what it meant to certain characters, and for me to be able to picture it today. I enjoyed how the chapters separated the characters stories and perspectives and yet tied everyone together. Reading this book today it is seen as another sad story, or perhaps a model of how one should not behave. But, thinking about reading this in the 1940's I understand how this would be seen as taboo and a threat to the church. It is out there,it is risky, it is brutal; but, it is honest and that is what I enjoyed the most.

First of all, I would like to say that I am right with Allison on how she originally felt about the characters. I was very annoyed, at first at the author, with what I felt was a self-conscious, wishy-washy tone in all that the characters said. But then I realized that Gabrielle Roy wasn't trying to depict how the characters would have been viewed, but how they would have thought themselves. This limited omniscient viewpoint eventually became one of my favorite parts of the novel. The plot wasn't as important to me as trying to figure out what each character actually felt and actually wanted. I also liked the way the ending perpetuated this theme. There were no happy endings and no sad endings. All the men went to war and all the women stayed home. The women were provided for financially, which had always been their main worry. Rose-Anna, however, was left to worry if she would ever see her husband again, and Florentine is left to worry if she ever wants to see her husband again. Right up to the end, we never know if the characters are happy or what they're lacking.

It is always a good indicator that a book will outlast its time when students are able to read a translated version 60 years after its publication date and still discuss and understand its underlying themes. Gabrielle Roy's Bonheur d'occasion, or The Tin Flute, was a novel that I found quite intriguing. One of the most striking qualities of the book was that it was written about average, lower class people and it showed that no matter the status or wealth one possesses, each individual has his or her own story. I also liked how the point of view was written in third person omniscient, so that the reader could see into the minds of all of the main characters. This proved especially interesting while reading of the love triangle between Jean, Florentine, and Emmanuel. It was almost ironic at certain parts of the novel because Florentine's perspective of Jean was so flowery, when, in fact, he was thinking of all the ways he could ditch her. On the other hand, Emmanuel was fooled by Florentine's false sincerity, all the way up to their wedding day. Furthermore, reading into the minds of Azaruis and Rose-Anna were equally as entertaining. Each person in the novel had a totally different outlook on their life, yet none of them shared it with any of the other characters. This was interesting to me because I felt the loneliness of each of them while reading of their thoughts, but I found it almost annoying that none of them would confide in another individual. If Rose-Anna, for instance, had talked to her children more often (she had enough of them!) then maybe she would have dealt with less inner turmoil and despair. Building on this, I do believe that each of the main characters pitied themselves too a great extent; nonetheless, I feel for each of them because their lives truly are pathetic, especially during a time of war and economic depression. Overall, though, The Tin Flute was a good read and I enjoyed learning about life in Montreal in the 1940s.

While some in the class may have been irritated by the characters in The Tin Flute, I think that their flaws are what makes this novel an intriguing one. This isn't a world of fairy tales, and everything doesn't consist of sweetness and light. These are hard people living hard lives, and their thoughts and actions reflect it. The imperfection of the characters link them together, though they are, at the same time, all thoroughly alone.

I also think that, while this was written sixty years ago, some aspects are still applicable today in America. It is an unfortunate situation when people are forced to enlist during a time of war for the lone reason that if they do, they know they will be getting three square meals a day. For a life to be so hopeless as to risk one's life fighting for something they may not understand or believe in is a truly bleak thing. However, it seems that governments bank upon the poor to build the army. There are more recruiters stationed in poor neighborhoods than elsewhere. For those without any options, going to war is still one last "chance".

I really think the most interesting aspect of the book was the characters. As a reader, you get into the head of each character and get to see what the people they associate with in the story do not. I often had trouble deciding whether or not I liked each character, with particular attention focused on Florentine. Most of the time her character sort of irritated me, but towards the end I realized the mindset she has that drove her actions was a necessary one for her circumstances. Like all the other characters in the story they did what they had to in order to survive, in a time where this was a huge challenge in itself. No one seems to be happy and often what they think will make them happy does not turn out to do so as said by Emmanual to Florentine, "chasing after their own unhappiness". The negatives attitudes can be hard to read, but it all has to be taken with the knowledge that that was what it was like for the people in their time and there was not much they could do about it.

To be honest, upon finishing The Tin Flute, I was not that impressed. I found the diction boring, and the tone/overall concept unoriginal. After all, how many novels have we read about families trying to keep afloat in the depression? A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, anyone? Then I zoomed out for a moment and considered that when the novel was written, there hadn’t been billions of others on the subject —especially because, as we discussed in class, Quebec had been disillusioned about its dilapidated state for a long time. So I gave in that point—the concept was original. At this point I started to reconsider my reaction. Then I realized that the colloquial language was probably more deliberate than not, because Gabrielle Roy’s target audience was most likely a more colloquial crowd—the people who weren’t only affected by the depression, but who were swept overboard by it. And as we noted, that was a mass amount of the Quebecois. The tone of drudgery and glumness plays the same role of getting readers to relate and empathize so that they’ll stick with the novel all the way, even to the point at which they realize what the novel is telling them about their society. So after some deliberation I can see how one could call Gabrielle Roy’s novel one of the most influential of its time in Canada—it used its very fibers (language, tone, and concept) to rake in an audience that would grab it by the horns as it raced towards revolution.

As just a general knee-jerk reaction to this text, I would have to say that the word 'bleak' comes to mind. Nearly every character was believable, and as these characters were developed further and further, I found it more and more difficult not to feel sympathetic towards them. This was certainly the case with Rose-Anna and Azarius - the unfortunate bread winner and the displaced (yet ever optimistic) manual laborer. But with the more minor characters, too: one can hardly help but be moved by the innocence and humility that Daniel so pitifully describes, or feel the pang of indignation that the arrogant Jean Levesque surely feels while at the dinner table with the impish Florentine.
What became more and more apparent throughout this text is that this text is a tragedy in the truest sense. You can not blame any of the characters for their faults or foibles; they are mere instruments, heralding the shortcomings of their era. Like in a Greek tragedy, it is almost as if Rose-Anna, Daniel, Emmanuel, and all of the characters involved were thrown, cruelly and headlong, into a world of strange gods, and fated to simply play out their roles.

Without a doubt Gabrielle Roy transcended many barriers in her release of 'Bonheur d'occasion.' It was widely successful and brought many Canadian's a new view on the happenings of struggling folks in Quebec. The book was a reminder of the stark reality of the people who suffered through the extremely dominant conservative influence of Union Nationale and the Roman Catholic Church.
The characters in the book seem genuine and have normal human tendencies, making it easy to relate to their struggles. Roy puts to paper what many Quebecers wished they could have screamed at the top of their lungs for all the world to hear. It is not easy to read about or witness extreme poverty and the tone that Gabrielle Roy uses made the novel's concept very racy and provocative at the time. I'm sure the book is much more smooth in French as the the old translation seems to dumb down the conversational language.
Obviously the Roman Catholic Church condemned the book while on the brink of a crisis. Suddenly people pushed for their rights as ordinary people, no longer would they accept being subjects of mind control and extortion.
Thus began the Quiet Revolution.

I really loved this novel. From the very beginning I thought that it was a great example of realism. I thought it was interesting how Roy chose to write in third-person omniscient and I believe this choice really added to the novel by allowing many different viewpoints. In class we briefly discussed how many people viewed the characters as selfish and completely absorbed in their own various happenings. When looking back on it, I think this belief came from the fact that Roy tried (and succeeded) at showing the reader each character's innermost thoughts, which at times can be both raw and selfish. This to me made the novel very genuine. At times I had to remind myself that this work of fiction wasn't a true account.

... My favorite passage falls on page 171 in the new translation... "Silent, she thought that poverty was like a sickness you put to sleep inside you, and it didn't hurt too much as long as you didn't move. You grew used to it, you ended up not paying attention to it as long as you stayed tucked away with it in the dark; but when you took the notion of going out with it in daylight, it became frightening to the sight, so ugly you could not expose it to the sun."

Gabrielle Roy’s, The Tin Flute is a great story about a family living in St. Henri trying to overcome poverty while dealing with the struggles of love during World War II. It seems that everyones solution to poverty is to join up in the war. The characters are great. I love Rose-Anna, she was one of my favorite characters of the novel. On page 171, “She thought that poverty was like a sickness you put to sleep inside you, and it didn’t hurt too much as long as you didn’t move. You grew used to it, you ended up not paying much attention to it as long as you stayed tucked away with it in the dark.” Poverty controlled their lives like a disease that wouldn’t go away. No matter how hard they worked and how hard she relied on Florentine, it was never enough. She tried too hard to please everyone all the time. Everything and everyone always had to be comfortable. Rose-Anna is lost amongst her roles as a mother and caretaker. She doesn’t have that connection with her kids that they have with each other. On page 276, “The language established between them was one of unspoken tenderness and friendly scolding, rather than conversation.” Rose-Anna was trapped with her constant fears of money and loneliness. I think it is crazy how much poverty and war really can affect one family. Poverty is the one thing that is consistent in their lives. It haunts them to the point where it is all they can think about. For men, lucky they can escape it by joining the army. Unfortunately, women like Rose-Anna cannot. I think it’s a little ironic that at the end of the novel Rose-Anna and Florentine get all the money in the world and discover their long lost happiness.

I really enjoyed reading this book. When I read the brief description on the backcover, I didn't thinkit was going to be very interesting. Although there were only several main characters in the book, Roy's ability to get into their heads and let the reader in to what they were thinking and feeling was extraordinary. Rose-Anna was such a strong character in this novel, a true patriarch of the family. No matter what challenges faced her she never gave up hope that things woud work themselves out. I can't imagine many women today that could meet those challenges head on as she did. Even though she hasn't even seen the new house that they are moving into, she reassures her children that everything will be okay. "Whatever it's like it can't be worse than our last house.....We musn't build castles in Spain,that's a waste of time till we see the place,but five rooms sounds better than here....Their best times had always been just before a move." In today's world, can you imagine packing up everything you own, putting your whole family in a truck and moving to your new homein one trip. They had so very little. I imagine it was like that for many families during the war. Then there was Florentine, ther eldest daughter who worked hard and contributed all her earnings for her family's welfare. She loved her family and would do anything for them but she couldn't help feeling sorry for herself for wanting more out of life. She was ashamned of her situation and saw something different when she first met Jean. Their whole relationship, if you can even call it a relationship, was built on mistrust, ambiguity, and curiosity. Although Jean was attracted to Florentine, he saw no future with her. He was on his way upand she just didn't fit into his plans. Emmanuel however, was truly in love with Florentine and saw her for who she really was. Although Florentine didn't feel the same way that Emmanuel did about her, she saw a future with him, a future much brighter than what she had now. "If she lost Emmanuel this moment,everything would be finished between them. Everything. This time she would be completely lost. More than her safety and her salvation were at stake. It seemed to her that Emmanuel might succeed in restoring her lust for life, her pride, her joy in being well-dressed and irresistable.It wasthrough him she had rediscovered that she was pretty and passionate." Besides Roy's brilliant character development, I thnk one of the most interesting aspects of the novel was how she had the reader experience all of the effects on the war on the world, yet she was able to do that through the telling of one family's experience. I truly felt Azarius's pain throughout the novel being unable to care for his family. In the end when Azarius enlisted so that his family would receive the financial help that they so desperatly needed was his ultimate sacrifice. "For a long time you've put up with everything and you haven't sasid a word, eh? I know since we been married you've always had a hard time.It started with little things and then bigger things. And it built up and built up till at last you couldn't even cry anymore,not even when you hid from me at night. Do you think i couldn't see you eating your heart out!......It's all yours. You're looked after. Ninety-seven dollars a month. And that's not all. The best of all is , you're going to be rid of me. Motionless, Azarius was standing there in uniform." It was comforting to know in the end that Florentine and her whole family would be well taken care of from now on.

I am not quite sure how to react to The Tin Flute. I did like the book, but it took a while for me to come around to enjoying it. I thought that Roy did a really good job at developing the characters. Although there are only a few main characters, they are all very well developed. For me, the most captivating character in the book is Rose-Anna. Roy's writing and development of this character brings to light the amazing struggle to overcome poverty in an era of War and crisis. I agree with Maggie's posting that Rose-Anna's overwhelming sense of duty towards her family and society has left her disconnected from her kids; unable to enjoy the same type of interactions that their kids engage in. The story itself got me thinking of how hard it would be to left with having to support a family while being totally stricken with poverty. I can see why the novel had such a great impact on Canadian society, and was surprised by how much I ended up liking the book.

I really loved this book. I found it very interesting and representive of this time period. Poverty seems to be the theme throughout the novel. I had so much sympathy for these families because of the sacrifice and hardship that they faced. It was so sad to see the relationship Rose-anna had with her children. Her son Daniel enjoyed his stay in the hospital because he was able to relax and not have to worry about the arguing over money. He also had a nurse that showed compassion for him and he was able to play with toys that he was never able to have.
I think my favorite part of the novel was the complexity of Florentine and Jeans relationship. I also thought it was interesting to see that she ended up with Emmanuel. Florentine never seemed to be good enough for Jean and he was constantly criticizing her in his head. Yet, Emmanuel loved her for who she was and she did not realize this until later on when Jean was longer there.

I still can't decide whether or not I like this book. It was a fast read, so that was nice. The character development was the most intriguing aspect. I found it kind of bizarre that all but one character (Emmanuel) in the entire 380 pages of this book were vain, unrealistic, and selfish. And he's pretty naive, so even though you like him, you have to feel bad for him. He's pathetically uninformed. Florentine is manipulative, selfish, and incredibly vain. She made sure to get herself married before her belly started to show and seemed to have no qualms about doing so. I found this, though not surprising upon finishing the book, rather repulsive. I wonder if her immorality dervied from a lack of parenting or if it was just a result of growing up in poverty where its every man for himself?

In really reflecting on it, I didn't like the book overall. In saying that, I do respect the talent of Roy and, considering the historical value, I'm glad I read it. She's an impressive writer.

What sticks out the most to me in the novel is how completely, radically different this Montréal seems to be from the one I would like to think I know fairly well. Having been a freelance sportswriter for the last seven years, I spent significant time in Montréal for Expos games, and the idea of Québécois being second-class citizens to the English speakers seems almost impossible to me. If anything, I had many an occasion at ballgames at Stade Olympique where I felt like Rose-Anna at the hospital. For example, page 227, where Rose-Anna felt dismissed after being told Daniel was getting tired, and how she struggled to read the diagnosis – while clearly not as grave as the situation here for Rose-Anna, I had many times where I would be spoken too in Montréal with almost contempt after apologizing for not speaking French and feeling like an infant surrounded by adults when in an elevator filled with French-speaking reporters. Scenes like this also make me understand more fully why Québec is so adamant now about protections of the French language and demands in the law for French to be a priority – having come so far in such short a time, one can understand protecting by whatever means the gains made.

I also wish that I remembered the French lessons from high school, as I wonder how much this scene gets lost in translation, and I can imagine it feels far more powerful reading in French the difficulty of understanding the English all around Rose-Anna in the hospital than vice versa.

I could also relate strongly to the idea of the importance of religion in a poor family. My household was far from rich, with an incarcerated father and an epileptic mother on welfare, so the idea of religion being something we could lean on strikes rather close to me. So Yvonne talking about being a nun on page 351 reminds me of how until third or fourth grade, I had wanted to grow up to be a priest. Yvonne and Daniel going over the Our Father together reminded me so much of sitting on the edge of the bed with my mother holding my Rosary beads as she held hers teaching me the prayers (the Our Fathers were no problem, but I still never remember the Glory Be to the Father…).

I think that both at the time it was written and today The Tin Flute is a key novel to understanding life in Montreal post depression during WWII. I thought that it was particularly interesting because we might be seeing some of the same situations arise in our own country if our economic situation does not improve. I think that the most interesting aspect of the novel is seen through the character Rose Anna. In particular we see her constant struggle with her own poverty while trying to raise her children and at the same time constantly changing houses. The only thing that Rose Anna has going for her is her hope that eventually life will get better for her and her family. However, I think that this hope for a better life only drives her deeper into pain and despair. This false hope is not helped by her husband Azarius who always seems to be thinking that things will be better for them in the end and that life will work out eventually. This hope by her husband gives Rose Anna a small bit of hope however, this hope soon fails when they end up in a new house in another desperate economic situation and she feels trapped all over again, “Yet never before had she felt so deserted by the appearance of stability. She was imprisoned between these four walls” (358).

Paul, sorry this took me so long. I was so busy that I kept forgetting!
The Tin Flute was an interesting novel to read, especially after reading the Macloud novel. I really enjoyed the contrasts and similarities between the two books. I thought the Tin Flute was interesting because of the sadness it evoked in me as I read it. Times were tough and I have never experienced a lifestyle like the one of Florentine and Rose-Anna and the family. The pverty and depression and lack on connection to one's family are all concepts that on a personal level, I can't relate to. However, this book gave me an acute understanding of a life that was and is so familiar to so many.
I really thought that our discussion about the character of Rose-Anna was very interesting. To me, she was one of the most interesting characters in the entire book. The quote that stood out to me was in the beginning of chapter 5 when it mentioned that her fear of the unknown was much worse than any known impending disaster and that was interesting to me because her life was full of unknowns. The poverty of her situation and the disconnect with her family made her life a series of unknowns; never knowing if she could make ends meet, watching her son and then her husband leave to go to war, standing by helplessly as her little boy dies from Lukemeia, moving constantly and never having a real home. There are so many things in her life that were never solid, never concrete, and yet her fear of that unknown was her greatest fear of all. Her feelings of being trapped were also kind of heart breaking to read about; trapped in a family you can't abandon but you don't feel especially close to. It must be the worst kind of lonliness. I really enjoyed this book and the way the author expressed hard issues.

I think that this book holds a lot of revelency for todays time period. Our economy is at a low right now and many families are having difficulties making ends meet. Although I did not care for the character's in this novel...the novel had many important points. I liked the way that it brought many important world issues into play and then managed to make the characters seem as if they really were real people out of this time period. I felt like the references to world war two were a great way to incorporate the local lifestyle and abroad. If I was to just take away the aspects of the characters the topics discussed in the novel were very intriguing and intense. I feel like Roy could have laid off on the development of the characters a little. They were at times a little too fake because their characteristics were overplayed and unreal at times. Out of all of the characters Emmanuel was my favorite and his character was developed to the right degree. I found everyone else too extreme and unrelatable. All in all I liked our first novel the best so far, but this novel had its good points as well.

I felt like this novel played like a spun-out mind trip of all the characters. Instead of telling you conclusively who each character is Gabrielle lets them unravel for you like an onion as she delves deeper and deeper into their character. They are also so complicated as people in such a grim time in Quebec, and her insight into different mind patterns is very impressive. Each person grows and your familiarity and respect for their depth grows as well. By the end you feel like you actually got to know the pains of this time and setting of urban poverty.
I think Roy is a very talented writer and I think that even though she writes about years of being suppressed; a time when the scandal of the church pushed people further into poverty like Rose-Anne and he family choices...she still writes with great conviction and power in even the humblest of situations.

Although I didn’t enjoy The Tin Flute that much, I can understand why it was received as such an important novel during the 1940’s. The ability of Gabriel Roy to present her characters in such a realistic fashion was outstanding and helped convey the sense that the reader was really experiencing the life of the urban poor in Montreal. Her attention to detail and description, although admirable, was at points almost overbearing in my opinion. The other thing that I didn’t really enjoy about the most about the novel was the fact that most of the characters were just unlikeable. The self centered nature of most of them (with the exception of Eugene who was just naïve) made it hard for me to really cheer for any of them in their endeavors, although I’m sure that was what Roy was trying to accomplish while painting an accurate representation of the urban squalor that existed in Montreal during the period.
The most interesting aspect of the novel to me seemed to be the groundbreaking nature of it. I find the fact that Roy wrote this book just after the depression really ended to be an admirable undertaking. By writing a novel about what would most likely be a rather taboo subject in Quebec, while doing it in a realistic fashion that brought to light the rather depressing nature of the state of the urban poor in Montreal she should be commended. This was no happy ending, lower class girl rises above her station in life to find true love type of book (which is where I thought it was headed after the first like 3 pages). There were no winners at the end of the novel, no one to be commended for their actions or attitudes through the course of the novel. I as a reader was left with a bitter taste in my mouth at the conclusion of the work, that it was a grim, bleak example of urban living. In that regard, I suppose Roy’s work was a complete success, in that she forced her readers to be exposed to something that they may have otherwise avoided or buried deep in the back of their minds: the struggling day to day lives of the lower class poor in Montreal. The other theme I took away from the novel was the importance of a proper translation, as there were glaring differences between the original translation and the newer version of the book.

I believe that the most interesting aspect of this novel is the character development. Roy does an amazing job of developing her characters in a very vivid way. In doing this, the plights of the characters and their life in a poor urban area, become that much more real because you feel more linked to each individual character. I think that the most captivating character in the novel is Florentine. I found myself laughing at her attempts to seem domesticated and draw Jean closer to her. When she invited him over while the family visited the country, she seemed to try to hard to get him to like her. From his reaction, she was trying to hard and he seemed disgusted. Yet it didn't stop him from sleeping with her. I found it particularly interesting that she would be so desperate as to sleep with him when he clearly doesn't want anything to do with her.

In developing the characters so well, Roy paints an extremely good picture of how life was in such a grim time in Canada. By showing their homes, their clothes, their diets, and such things, Roy allows us to infer just how difficult life really was.

I really enjoyed The Tin Flute. I think the theme of social/ economical struggle mixed with a quest for love gives it a real excitement. All of the character are very interesting to me. Roy does am amazing job of introducing every character i her separate way, but then tying them together by intertwining their lives and stories. We learn about each character and his/her flaws through their thoughts. In particular Florentine really caught my eye. Her character seem so confused and almost immature. She longs for the love of Jean and throughout the whole first half of the novel is completely blind to his lack of affection for her. At the same time she is responsible for the lively hood of her family through her paycheck, so you would think that she would be more aware. These two aspects about Florentine depict a great picture of how blind she was by love but how real the times were and her being able to offer so much to her family.

I'm still not sure how I feel about The Tin Flute. While it presents many ideas that are still incredibly relevant and important, I feel it lacks warmth and eloquence. This could have been lost in translation, but there is something un-human about the characters. Roy writes their thought processes with the utmost detail, though sometimes it seems unrealistic.

The most interesting aspect of the novel was the war. The effects of the war on the characters were extremely well done, as well as the dialogue about the war. My favorite scene was close to the beginning when Jean unknowingly met Florentine's father and his buddies while they discussed the war.

What struck me most when reading this novel was how much it reminded me of the work of Dickens, especially “ A Tale of Two Cities.” I felt that the style the book was written in as well as the themes it contained had similarities to Dickens. Another element similar to Dickens, is the novel’s timeless nature despite being set in a very particular time. Although Roy is examining the specific economic state of Quebec during the first half of the 20th century, she is also examining the timeless nature of poverty and its effects
I found her character portrayals fascinating because she made her characters sympathetic through honest terms. Instead of making characters of valiance and strength that suffer at the hands of injustice, Roy takes a more realistic approach. She presents extremely flawed and selfish characters that are sympathetic not only because they are suffering at the hands of injustice but also because their flaws and mistakes make them suffer even more. At first I hated many of the characters in the book finding their selfish and flawed natures undesirable. But somewhere along the way I realized that in reality men are scarcely “virtuous victims”. When thrown down a well a man does not politely tip toe around waiting for his turn to climb out. He crawls, punches, and fights tooth and nail stepping on whoever gets in his way.

It's interesting to read about World War II from the Canadian perspective. It seems as if every story about the war is always set in Europe, America, or the South Pacific. In contrast to the films of the 1950's that tended to romantise WWII, Roy gives us a good dose of realism; the impact on the every day lives of realistic characters. I think they should stuck with the title "Second-hand Happiness." It's more fitting. The characters struggle through life, longing for something better. Florentine longs to excape her difficult, unglamorous life for a happy relationship with Jean. Jean believes he is capable rising up socially and economically. Emmanual is in love with a girl who has fallen for a man that doesn't appreciate her. Ararius wants the respect an honorable job. Readers of different generations can identify with these struggles. Rose-Anna has additional challenges given the time and place of the setting. She has all this responsiblity to take on with the limitations of a woman in Catholic Montreal. The war and economic conditions challenge everyone. Roy protrays these characters sympathically without straying from the narrative of life being no fairy tale.