Sentimental Education

Study Guide

Summary

Part Three, Chapters 5–7

Save

Summary Part Three, Chapters 5–7

The final line of chapter 6, “And that was all,” marks the end of a protracted phase of Frédéric’s life, but it has historical resonance as well. Madame Arnoux makes her final visit to Frédéric in 1867; in 1870, France’s Second Empire ends. When Frédéric and Deslauriers reminisce about better days in chapter 7, their nostalgia mirrors some of the nostalgia the French had for more peaceful times. Although the layers of historical references are beyond what appears explicitly in Flaubert’s text, this general idea of parallel endings—the end of an era for Frédéric as well as for France—gives Frédéric’s love story a grander context than it would have on its own. The parallel works in two ways: it gives a personal context to political events, and it intensifies the importance of political events in individual lives.