Nineteenth-century novelists used physical descriptions in their narratives to impose a thematic integrity on their characters. Flaubert, it could be argued, also followed the traditions of realism and moderated Frédéric's inclinations towards romanticism with an ironic and often pessimistic tone. Many characters in A Sentimental Education, in fact, can be read through Flaubert's physical portraits. Their intentions are clarified, their roles in the novel revealed, their symbolic meaning exposed for scrutiny. But these are the minor characters, the ones for whom a simple external detail can clarify the purpose of the novel's entire person. The main characters will have no such luck. After all, Flaubert in his novel provides a "moral - sentimental would be more accurate - history of the men of [his] generation." And objective reason, favored by realism, would fall into oblivion in the face of the inconsistency and irrationality of feelings and feelings. Throughout the novel, Flaubert provides abundant detail regarding the outward appearance - clothes and ornaments - of Madame Arnoux in particular. Objects can convey possession or desire, and Frédéric, unable or unwilling to possess Madame Arnoux and truly know her, transfixes his desire and obsession on her objects. Clothing, as it exists in the real world, is not even superficial and in this case, instead of characterizing or reflecting its owner, it represents an obstacle to knowing his true character. The narrative reflects Frédéric's desire by placing excessive emphasis on Madame Arnoux's clothes and ornaments, undermining her sense of traditional realism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay For the most part, Madame Arnoux appears in the novel in one of two different, but not entirely distinct, ways of dress. One pale, the other dark, her dress provides two images of her person: one radiant, maternal, angelic; the other modest, reserved, domestic. Since both are equally unattainable for Frédéric, the objects that define her (outwardly, as that may be) are the same ones that Frédéric fetishizes. From his first meeting with Madame Arnoux, the reader gets an idea of ​​Frédéric's point of view, of his romantic idealization of the light-colored heroine: "She wore a wide-brimmed hat whose pink ribbons fluttered behind her in the wind Parted in the middle, her black hair curved the tips of her eyebrows and fell very low as if lovingly framing her oval face. She was working on it a piece of embroidery, on his straight nose, on his chin all over his body, stood out against the airy blue background" Similarly, during an accidental encounter later in the novel, Flaubert again evokes the image of light: "She was bathed in the sun and her face oval,; her eyebrows arched, her black lace stole clinging to her shoulders, her iridescent dove-gray silk dress, the bouquet of violets at the corner of her bonnet, all in She looked extraordinary and magnificent." Frédéric sees Madame Arnoux as an apparition, radiant and otherworldly, a symbol of perfection, beauty and pure love. As soon as he sees her for the first time, his poetic desires find purpose, as later, during a carriage ride home, he dedicates his life to her: "She looked exactly like the women in romantic novels... she surrendered to the his dreams of never again - the final bliss." He calls his hair black and attributes his darker skin to someexotic lineage, "from Andalusia or perhaps the West Indies." Frédéric's romantic vision of Madame Arnoux contrasts sharply with Deslauriers' description upon first sighting: "average height, brown hair...not bad, nothing special." Frédéric voluntarily and irrationally transmits to her all kinds of virtues based on her outward appearance. He is able to raise it to a level of imaginary sublimity because he is unable or perhaps unwilling to subject it to a more realistic or non-superficial examination. Therefore, Frédéric's idea of ​​her is inextricably linked to her external attributes and effects: her eyes, her hair, her clothes. These personal but banal objects of Madame Arnoux are closely linked to Frédéric's impression of her. Returning to his first meeting with Madame Arnoux on the boat journey to Nogent, he notices that her "long purple striped shawl hung on the brass handrail behind her back" and immediately wonders what the object is: "how often, on humid evenings, during long sea voyages, he must have wrapped it around him, covered his feet, even slept in it!" Even later, Frédéric imagines her on exotic journeys, and his fantasies are always accompanied by some mental image of her dress or her ornaments: "...his mind returned to embrace her even in past centuries, replaced the figures in the picture of Her; with a hennin on her head, she would be kneeling in prayer behind a lead-lit window in her castle in Flanders or Castile, she would be sitting with a starched ruff and whalebone bodice with an immense puff; of porphyry, surrounded by senators, under a canopy of ostrich feathers, in a brocade dress. Other times he dreamed of her in yellow trousers..." Frédéric cannot separate the idea Madame Arnoux from her physical description. The details of his outward appearance are real enough, but his true identity remains an abstraction. Thus her possessions, both fantastic and real, do not contribute to forming a realistic portrait of Madame Arnoux; their detailed descriptions are simply manifestations of Frédéric's obsession with his ideal. Perhaps a more significant passage suggests the inseparability of her ideal with her dress: "One thing that surprised him was that he did not feel jealous of Arnoux and his innate modesty seemed so strong, relegating her sex to a dark background secret, that he could never imagine her undressed." Later, when their romantic encounters begin, he tells Madame Arnoux of the permanence of his previous visions of her, in effect revealing his preoccupation with imaginary ideals: "He would tell her of his sad school days and his poetic dreams, full of radiant vision of a woman's face he had recognized the moment he saw her. Usually they only talked about the years since they had seen each other regularly. He reminded her of unimportant details, the color of her dress on certain occasions... " This concern for physical detail is also present when Madame Arnoux, mindful and perhaps even relishing Frédéric's obsession, "gave him a pair of her gloves and, the following week, her handkerchief." This, perhaps, is the manifestation of Frédéric's idealized love: the possession of his personal objects replaces the possession of her. As Frédéric's desire for Madame Arnoux is replaced by her personal effects, these objects become humanized: "[Frédéric] loved everything connected with Madame Arnoux: her furniture, her servants, her house, her street... for him his comb, his gloves, his rings, were something absolutely special, as remarkable as any work of art, possessing a personality of its own that was almost human and all of these;.