Should we laugh or not?

At first I saw A Simple Soul by Gilbert Flaubert as a not so good short story, a simple story about a girl whose life only had tragic events in it. I won't say it was pointless since I have found out throughout the years that nothing really is completely pointless or else the author wouldn't have put so much effort in it. But I can admit that after today's discussion in class my opinion on this short story took a whole new turn. 

Even though most of the story is written in a serious tone describing not so funny situations in the end I noticed that what Flaubert is doing is mocking us, as in society. When you read many of the situations the protagonist has to endure, you don't feel the need to laugh and even thinking about laughing will automatically seem completely cruel. 

Flaubert makes various comparisons between life vs. death and happiness vs. sadness by using several metaphors such as the parrot. At times these metaphors or connections may not 'click' in our minds this is the reason why we are not able to appreciate A Simple Soul at its fullest. 

I want to point out that my favorite part of the whole story was the last paragraph. Where Felicities dies. It creates a clear image even though it doesn't use much description. The fact that Felicity is in another room dying while everyone else is in a ceremony creates a sad and pity tone to it. The way Flaubert uses the description of the 'blue vapour', as in the scent that is usually spread in church, leads the reader to thinking that Felicity was actually poisoned by this. Soon the paragraph makes a complete turn when Flaubert mentions the parrot as the last thing she sees. Once you know that the parrot actually symbolizes Felicity's happiness, dull life, and death, you will notice that you won't know whether to laugh about the fact that it is a huge parrot staring over her while she dies or feel sadness since it shows that in a way her life wasn't very interesting.