The entire novel concerns itself with Frédéric 's mediocre self, his mediocre friends, and his intrigues with various women over a ten-year period and on whom he squanders three-quarters of his fortune. Frédéric 's assumption that it was okay for him to be an interloper into another man's marriage was a commonplace. Adultery was something that men seemed to take for granted and married women in general had as ever a very dim view of it. Frédéric 's obsession eventually interferes with his ability to concentrate on his studies, and it soon becomes apparent that his ambitions exceed his abilities. He has become obsessed with Madame Arnaux while at the same time cultivating a friendship with the husband. Well born and with bright prospects ahead of him, he is sent off to Paris to attend law school. As fate would have it, he encounters on board a married couple, Monsieur and Madame Arnaux, who will play a significant role in his eventual Parisian sojourn - and not for the better as it turns out. Frédéric 's family home is in Nogent-sur-Seine, where he is now headed. The novel opens as a paddlewheel steamboat is about to depart from Paris, continuing its voyage up the Seine from Le Havre where Frédéric had gone to visit his uncle. In 1840 Frédéric Moreau, the protagonist of Sentimental Education, was eighteen years old.
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