Answer:
The central conflict in the book by Gustave Flaubert speaks to the inability of the housemaid to (after the death of her mistress) love (that is care for) herself when ironically she had given all her heart in the devotion to same.
Step-by-step explanation:
Félicité -the housemaid is a characterised as a simple-minded, woman who although loyal to a fault suffers tremendous loss the loss is mostly psychological.
She is unable to bring herself to live a life outside the one which she had with her mistress. So as the very house where she and her mistress lived decays, so does her condition worsen.
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