In the sense that Emmanuel is questioning in this passage, I think that spirit holds the power of true redemption. No matter how much wealth you possess, your spirit is what carries you through life. In this case we can look at Yvonne for a prime example. She holds no personal wealth yet she has a spirit that will carry her through life. Although she and her family and very poor, she manages to life a very happy life through the spirit of God. She resolves to becoming a nun at the end of the story and is completely content with her decision. By becoming a nun Yvonne will have the power of true redemption when it is her time to join God in heaven. We see that Yvonne also values her spirit more than any wealth when she speaks to Rose-Anna about Danny. Yvonne tells her mother that she has sacrificed her life to God if Danny gets better. I feel that if it were any other family member praying to God for Danny's recovery they would offer their wealth, what little they had, for his recovery rather than their own life.

I think a perfect example of this dilemma is when Jean is explaining his childhood in chapter 16. Jean tells the story of how his biological parents died in a car accident leaving him in an orphanage, where he felt alone and out of place. Then one day a couple adopts him. This couple is somewhat wealthy and is able to give Jean everything he needs, such as pocket money and an education. Although, the couple is facing the lose of their own child. When his happens Jean is a bit neglected. This leaves Jean feeling more alone than he had felt in the orphanage. Although he has money and a home, Jeans spirit is bruised because he feels no immediate love from anyone. I think that these circumstances is the direct reason why Jean is so cold throughout the novel and faces many different mood swings and changes in behavior. It is proof that money does not buy happiness.

If 'The Tin Flute' tells us anything about the dilemma between wages and spirit, it is that when confronted with the grave obstacles of war and poverty, the choice can never be as simple as one or the other. Take, for example, the passage we discussed in class, in which Rose-Anna is in the diner and must choose between the toy for Daniel and the money which Florentine conferred on her. It would be easy to take a literal approach, saying that in this instance, Rose-Anna has chosen wealth over the spirit of her son - exemplified by the tin flute. Wealth is clearly not the one to "sacrifice itself": Rose-Anna scurries off with the dollar bills, and Daniel subsequently dies.
Thankfully, the narrative seems to suggest that the dilemma is not so simple. After all, the money that Rose-Anna took from her daughter was presumably not sequestered, but rather turned into food for her children, and warm clothing for them to wear. While these essential items could hardly be classified as "spirit" in an artistic sense, they certainly serve the purpose of preserving the "spirit" of the family through commensality and physical well-being. Furthermore, they serve the "spirit" of Rose-Anna - who proves herself again and again a figure providence - by allowing her to maintain that notion of familial servitude and protection. So which element did the money ultimately represent? How could we classify those two dollars as either "wealth" or "spirit" when within the bounds of oppressive poverty, the two are so entwined?

there are many characters in the tin flute that deal with this dilemma. I think a good example is Azarius. He has gone through life without a worry in the world. He has no care for money and is constantly bothered by Rose-Anna's concerns of getting by. His spirit was down when he realized he could never give his family the money they needed. At the end of the novel, Azarius decides to leave his family, his wife to start a new life, while giving his family the wealth they wanted. Azarius is giving them all his money from joining the army because he doesn't need it. His spirit holds the power for redemption. He is finally happy, living the life he wants and he doesn't need money to do that. Wealth should be sacrificed. Having spirit and happiness is far more important than money. I think thats something rose-anna doesn't realize.

This human enigma of whether or not it is worth it to sacrifice your spirit or your dignity in exchange for wealth and a higher place in society is conveyed through the main characters of The Tin Flute. Emmanuel questions whether or not it is spirit or wealth that truly matters at the end of one's life. If one spends all his or her time searching for a higher status or level of well-being without taking into account one's true feelings, he or she is not really living.

Rose-Anna, Florentine, and Jean all deal with this internal dilemma. Through each of these individuals' actions, I think that Gabrielle Roy is trying to show her readers that money definitely is not the solution to everyone's problems. In the case of Florentine, she settles for Emmanuel when, in her heart, she knows he is not the one she loves. Her final sentiments at the end of the novel show that she is not truly happy. She even admits that “…she had been hurt by [the Létourneaus] coldness, and embarrassed when she was with them.” Then she thinks of Jean and realizes that she must break everything that reminds her of him, because he is who her heart desires. We can see that even now, with a secured future, Florentine is not content. Perhaps if she had waited for someone she truly cared for, she would have been able to live her life without inner turmoil and disillusionment.

This is a question that is very difficult to answer for it depends on each individual, his situation, what choices are available to him, what his values are, whether he lives on a day to day basis or for the future. Every character in the Tin Flute had to confront this dilemna, many of which have already been touched on by other people such as Florentine's feelings for Jean and Emmanuel, Rose-Anna's eternal optimism, Azarius's actions towards his wife and children, Emmanuel's love for Florentine, and Jean's struggle for identity. It is human nature that people struggle with this dilemna.

I think that spirit is more important than wealth. Wealth should be sacrificied because spirit is what keeps one happy. It seems as though wealth was more important in this novel because poverty was such a strong strand. Rose-anna was never satisfied and was never able to connect to her children because of this. Her children constantly had to worry about what was next because Rose-anna always expressed this. I think that wealth is not the answer to all problems and is why all the characters are struggling. Even once they acquire money they are still not satisfied. Emmanuel I feel is one of the only characters that joins the army for spirit. He needed guidance and to have a purpose in life.

In The Tin Flute, every character confronts this very dilemma. I personally think Florentine is the best example of how sacrificing the soul for a comfortable life is never the way to go. Most predominant when she meets Jean on the streets after watching her husband, Emmanuel, leave for war, Roy shows the reader that if Florentine had been a little less eager to start her ultra comfortable life that she could have possibly found real happiness. Rose Anna married Azarius despite her mother's warnings and although they live a life of poverty she still loves her husband very much. Even in moments of extreme stress, such as after the birth of her final child, Rose Anna still strives to please her lover by dressing in her best white bed dress. Florentine will never experience the passion that comes with true love because she sacrificed it for wealth, a mistake she will always regret.

In The Tin Flute, every character confronts this very dilemma. I personally think Florentine is the best example of how sacrificing the soul for a comfortable life is never the way to go. Most predominant when she meets Jean on the streets after watching her husband, Emmanuel, leave for war, Roy shows the reader that if Florentine had been a little less eager to start her ultra comfortable life that she could have possibly found real happiness. Rose Anna married Azarius despite her mother's warnings and although they live a life of poverty she still loves her husband very much. Even in moments of extreme stress, such as after the birth of her final child, Rose Anna still strives to please her lover by dressing in her best white bed dress. Florentine will never experience the passion that comes with true love because she sacrificed it for wealth, a mistake she will always regret.

In The Tin Flute, every character confronts this very dilemma. I personally think Florentine is the best example of how sacrificing the soul for a comfortable life is never the way to go. Most predominant when she meets Jean on the streets after watching her husband, Emmanuel, leave for war, Roy shows the reader that if Florentine had been a little less eager to start her ultra comfortable life that she could have possibly found real happiness. Rose Anna married Azarius despite her mother's warnings and although they live a life of poverty she still loves her husband very much. Even in moments of extreme stress, such as after the birth of her final child, Rose Anna still strives to please her lover by dressing in her best white bed dress. Florentine will never experience the passion that comes with true love because she sacrificed it for wealth, a mistake she will always regret.

As depressing as the idea may be, I feel Roy makes a good argument for wealth being the deciding factor for those who don't have it, and spirit the deciding factor for the rich. Florentine and Rose-Anna are perfect examples, originally, of lacking wealth. Their spirit is broken every day by their lack of means. They both find an exit at the end through their husbands, but find no real solace in it. Emmanuel and Azarius leave to go to war, and the last line of the novel does not foretell good things happening. Azarius takes a slightly different path; he had the spirit and talked big ideas originally, but sacrificed his schemes and left his wife behind in exchange for money. Emmanuel, too, is slightly different. He always had the money, but made the decision to go to war based on money. I think Roy is trying to show the diverse paths that lead people to making sacrifices. Sacrifices of life for the men, and sacrifices of love for the women.

The question of which is more crucial to liberating oneself is hard. Partly because the fact that money, in itself, can free one from many obstacles that would make "spirit" and feelings of hope, optimism for the future less necessary. It seems in this book that those who have money (Emmanuel) seem to have a lot of spirit but not sure where to invest it. Emmanuel is an interesting character to me because though having wealth, he still can view the world around him through a lens of compassion and genuine desire for change. He says "war is going to destroy that damned power of money" on page 60. A power which he actually has in that scenario. He also says quite strongly that "money isn't wealth." But this is easy to say when you have money.
I don't think this question has a simple answer. I think that it is clear that money can't fulfill any voids one might have in terms of purpose. But those who do not have money tend to make their purpose to obtain it. I think that Roy uses the contrast between characters like Flourentine and Rose Anne, and Emmanuel and Jean, to show the subjectivity of wealth and how it affects you. Especially between Jean and Emmanuel because she shows how money can be a selfish cold thing like it is for Jean and how it can be a spark for change and hope like it is for Emmanuel. I think that this book is defined BY that question in many ways, and that Gabrielle intends her reader to be burdened by it after finishing the novel.

In the instance of 'The Tin Flute' the majority of the characters, at one point or another, are faced with the the dilemma of wealth or spirit. I think that each character turns to spirit before they turn to wealth. However, in the end, especially in the case of Florentine and her family, they must turn to wealth. This isn't to say that they would not have preferred for spirit to possess redemption. Clearly, at the beginning of this novel Florentine lives in a dream world, she is discouraged with her poverty, but she always seems to have this hope that things will ease for her. In the case of Azarius, he may be viewed as irresponsible but I think that his intentions are mostly good. He always wants to surprise his family and give what he can't afford to give. All of this, I believe, demonstrates how some characters turn to spirit first.
In the end, wealth is what is going to make them survive. Florentine finds security in Emmanuel; Azarius joins the army. With some characters they turn first to spirit, to hope; however, I think that reality settles before them and in the end wealth, or trying to attain some wealth, is what wins. Wealth and spirit is a constant struggle and choosing one or the other is not as simple as it may seem.

The book, The Tin Flute, struggles with the issues of chosing wealth of material goods or spirit of life. Different characters handle this choice different ways, though poverty is always at the heart of the decisions made and seems to break spirits, no matter how hard some of the characters try to have a positive outlook on life.
Rose-Anna's character is a good example of one who wants to sacrifice need of wealth for human spirit. She constantly struggles with this because no matter how hard she tries and no matter how much she wants to put her money problems second to her family's happiness, she cannot. She wants to provide for her children both the food and roof over their heads and the material pleasures they long for but in such hard times, she cannot do both and inevitably ends up barely making ends meet as they are forced to move once again, enforcing her sacrifice of spirit over wealth.
In the case of Azarius, he uses his unbearable poverty and the discontent of his situation to escape and find his spirit once again, with the pretense of helping his family with the money he would make by joining up. Azarius ultimatly choses, somewhat selfishly is might be said, his spirit over his family. And although it may financially help his family, his personal needs are the only ones being met in his leaving. Rose-Anna is forced to stay in her situation, alone.
This book was such a portriat of lonliness and the question of whether to sacrifice wealth of spirit ties into this theme as poverty creates the lonliness that most of the characters in this book seem to feel.

It easy for one to quickly say "I'd much rather be poor and happy than rich and unhappy." But today's society, just as it was in the 1940's, is built around money and wealth. The more you have the more you mean, and that is displayed in this book. So is the pain and despair of thinking about how the children will live through the extreme poverty their parents looked to escape. The enigma has an effect on every character, but in my opinion it is most notable in Emmanuel. Although he has what most desire, wealth, he is unaffected by the power and influence he has. Emmanuel somehow can view the world with compassion and genuineness that is expressed by other characters like Rose Anna and Florentine who live in a much dire situation. And although money and wealth do wield great influence, nothing can replace the desire and spirit that burns within Rose Anna.

This human enigma develops from the way society structures itself. Society makes material wealth the measure of success and credibility. By doing this Society constructs wealth as a main portion of human spirit even though material wealth has very little to do with spirit. Roy examines this point when stating, “an orange was like a new coat or a shiny tin flute, it was a thing you longed for and asked for again and again, and then when you had it in your hand, it didn’t seem so important.”(253) People often fool themselves into believing that a spirit of wealth will bring about redemption(because that is what society tells them) but when this wealth manifests itself they still feel empty. This novel revels that spirit is what holds the true power of redemption. But due to the confines of a society steeped in the currency of material wealth, redemption through spirit (within this society) is worthless. People either fool themselves into believing in a spirit of material wealth or they live as “failures.” The character of Azarius especially illuminates this point. He is a man who refuses to relinquish his spirit. He will not work menial jobs because he believe they diminish his honor and cut away from finding meaning in life. But because he will not relinquish to society’s demands, he is by those standards a failure. Many refer to him as a deadbeat and failure who shamefully lets his family suffer instead of being respectable and taking care of them. He is unable to hold on to his spirit in the end and enlists in the army because he is sick of being a “failure”.

I've been putting this off because there are so many different ways to approach this predicament and I don't know which one is right. Florentine gives up happiness to be comfortable and well taken care of. She is clearly unhappy at the end of the novel: wishing she still had the freedom to choose her path. But whose to say she won't be happy in the future. They say you can learn to love someone. Its not like Emmanuel won't bend over backwards to make Florentine happy. He thinks he's found his true love and thus will treat her like a queen. And while spiritual happiness clearly cannot be replaced by material goods and wealth, lets face it, it sure does help a lot to have money. Florentine grew up poor in a house overpopulated by children and dreamers; it seems to me that her eagerness to continue reproducing would be little to none existent. None of this, to me, however exemplifies anything near redemption. It takes looking hard at the inside of yourself and taking a conscious effort to make change. That to me, is redemption. And if choosing to live your life happy, no matter if you're rich or poor, then you likely have looked within for good, long time and decided what's important in life: to be happy. I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that the only character granted the opportunity of not having to make an executive decision is Emmanuel. He is, however unfortunately, the only character to contemplate this quandary, which leaves him no better off.

Throughout the novel the issue of money and financial security is continually brought up. I fell like the character's do not see any other way to move up in status in the world unless they have more money. Florentine is a great example of this. She is an extremely vain character and is only looking to raise herself in status, even if it means leaving her family behind. I do not believe that she sees herslef as a spiritual being, or that she she could find happiness in her life with through the people around her and her surroundings. Instead, she only believes that she can find happiness in money and even if it is forced happiness. Emmanuel is the only character who seems to question this idea of happiness through money or soul. Although he has the ability to be contemplative, his character leads me to assume that he would act the same way whether he was really poor or not. To me, I believe it is better to have a happy soul and spiritual side than to try and find happiness through money. The old saying you can't buy happiness/love is one that I definitely believe in and try to follow to the best of my ability each day.

What makes this such a difficult question is that, at the time, spirit and wealth were bonded together, at least in the opinion of the people. In order to be happy, to have spirit, they thought they needed the wealth. Without it they would be desolate and trapped in a cage of unhappiness and their spirit would never have time to flourish. What I don't think most of the characters realized is that they have to be able to accept their circumstances, maybe do what they can to change them, but they can't let it completely control their life. That is very easy to say outside the situation, where much of the money is needed just for the basic survival, but when it is all they think about night and day they will never be able to feel free. Spirit is the only thing that has the power of redemption. Even with money it is possible to feel constrained. Florentine married Emmanuel for his money even though she loved Jean. While that saved her in the physical sense, it did not redeem her in a spiritual sense. She is as trapped as she was before, just in a new way, but I suppose she could maybe learn to be happy, as false as it may be.

This 'eternal human enigma' is only illustrated through Emmanuel, however all of the other characters seem to undergo the enigma unknowingly. All except maybe Rose-Anna. She has the ability to look at both sides of the spectrum, however she knows that if she were more well-off she could give her kids and Azarius a better quality of life. Rose-Anna tends to dwell on this, and being unhappy. Emmanuel however, is able to examine both sides without strings attached to either one. It is almost as though he does not fit in with the rich and elite because he thinks about what it means to be truly happy instead of being happy because he had money.

Florentine's decision to marry him and the majority of her other actions were shaped around wealth instead of what she truly wanted. This was very predictable, but illustrated the side of the 'enigma' that she had been brought up to idolize. She would have been a better match with Jean, for his values about money and hers seem to go hand in hand.

In The Tin Flute the dilemma between spirit and wealth is very important. We see many different characters battling with this problem. The characters that we see here are living in very difficult times and they must decide individually what it is that they want. The struggle between wealth and happiness i think is well illustrated by Rose Anna. she is very unhappy with the way that her life has turned out and she comes to the realization that her life cannot get any better. she is trapped in her present state and feels as through things will never change for her and her family. this is well illustrated in the scene where she goes house hunting in the spring looking for a new place because yet again she is pregnant. She realizes that they do not have enough money to fully support and take care of their growing family and because of this she struggles with the reality that she will be neither rich nor happy. only miserable.

One of the most frustrating aspects of this novel is the inability of many of the characters to successfully confront this dilemma in accordance with their own wishes, hopes, and desires. Jean and Florentine are complimentary examples of this recurring theme. Both of them hold a sort of false ideal or vision of their own lives that fails to conform with reality, and furthermore impairs their ability to maintain personal relationships. Jean's egotistical nature dictates his attitude towards Florentine. He tries to view her as an object, and strives to feel above her, when in reality he struggles with the same class dilemma in life. Florentine on the other hand struggles with her own self image. Her self-doubt and self-pity give Jean the upper hand in dictating the nature of her relationship, and also leave her open to the suggestion and influence of others. It isn't that her feelings for Emmanuel are a lie, but her constant struggle to view herself in a certain way in spite of the objective reality of her class situation leaves her weak willed, and ultimately this affects her life profoundly, leaving her to dwell in the same plane as her mother, when all she had hoped to do was to rise above. In grasping for both happiness and material success, Florentine puts herself at risk of losing both, or living her life devoid of both.

Playing catch-up here, as I clearly fell behind on multiple of these, and that really kills me, as I have enjoyed so many of these, and I am usually nowhere near this much of a slacker.
As for what The Tin Flute tells us about confronting the dilemma between spirit and wealth and which offers the power of redemption, Yvonne’s offering up of herself as a “sacrifice” of sorts to save her brother is to me the best example of this dilemma. Yvonne offers herself up as a offering to God, pledging to give her life to him in duty as a nun if he is willing to spare her brother. By choosing a life in the convent, she would be swearing off all possibilities of wealth, devoting her entire life to one focused on the spiritual. The purity of her offer here, along with her love of both her brother and her religion, clearly shows through here. Her mother meanwhile struggles with religion, and she as a result is a far-less pure character than Yvonne, and you see her constantly worrying about her poverty and her status – she in no way could make the choice Yvonne is willing to. If Rose-Anna cannot deal with what poverty she has, could she cope with an entire life devoted to poverty? No.

apparently i had my entry for this one all typed up and forgot to post it...

I think The Tin Flute shows that the two ideas of spirit and wealth are closely intertwined, but that in the end spirit is most often compromised for wealth. Looking at the characters of Florentine and Azarius they contrast nicely with that of Yvonne. Florentine is hasty in her thirst for material goods and to escape from her impoverished lifestyle. Thus, upon being knocked up by Jean she faces quite the dilemma. If she keeps the baby as a single mother, she’s dooming herself to a life of poverty (similar to that of her own mother which she despises), but the argument can certainly be made, will she be legitimately happy with Emmanuel? It would certainly seem in her case that material wealth is much more important than spiritual happiness.
I think that Azarius on the other hand represents an interesting contrast to Florentine. By joining the army, he’s achieving material wealth for his family (not really himself as he probably won’t see a cent of it) yet it seems he’s also achieving spiritual happiness by breaking free of the bonds that tie him to his impoverished lifestyle. He seems to be keeping some sort of balance between the spirit (his own) and the material (for his family). Of course on the far side of the spectrum is Yvonne who puts her spiritual well being above all else, joining a convent in the name of God and ensuring (in her eyes at least) that her spirit is much more important than that of her material well being.

Roy seems to suggest that both the spiritual and the financial are important, and balancing them can, at times, be difficult. Her detailed descriptions of the working conditions of a waitress as well as the poverty in St. Henri reveal the stress, frustration, and heartache of the economic downtrodden. The characters are surrounded by poverty; a constant remind of the consequences of failing to achieve economic stability. When we first meet Jean he is very much a creature of economic survival. His room is mostly free of non-studying related content. This is to remind him that his situation is temporary; an obstacle to overcome. He finds satisfaction in immersing himself in his job and studies. His life is focused and practical. Yet, he keeps thinking of Florentine, and realizes her possible potential as a distraction from his economic advancement. He has to rationalize going to meet her as a “curiosity” (28) that needed to be satisfied. He tells himself his mind benefits from satisfying curiosity. Jean needs a non-emotional reason to justify going to see her. Roy implies that beneath Jean’s strict economic reason lies an unfulfilled spiritual longing.

Roy seems to suggest that both the spiritual and the financial are important, and balancing them can, at times, be difficult. Her detailed descriptions of the working conditions of a waitress as well as the poverty in St. Henri reveal the stress, frustration, and heartache of the economic downtrodden. The characters are surrounded by poverty; a constant remind of the consequences of failing to achieve economic stability. When we first meet Jean he is very much a creature of economic survival. His room is mostly free of non-studying related content. This is to remind him that his situation is temporary; an obstacle to overcome. He finds satisfaction in immersing himself in his job and studies. His life is focused and practical. Yet, he keeps thinking of Florentine, and realizes her possible potential as a distraction from his economic advancement. He has to rationalize going to meet her as a “curiosity” (28) that needed to be satisfied. He tells himself his mind benefits from satisfying curiosity. Jean needs a non-emotional reason to justify going to see her. Roy implies that beneath Jean’s strict economic reason lies an unfulfilled spiritual longing.