From Innocence to Experience: A Retrospective View of Dussardier in L'Education sentimentale

Treatment of Auguste Dussardier (character) and his relationship to protagonist, Frédéric Moreau. Among the curious assortment of friends and acquaintances with whom Frédéric fitfully interacts during the course of the novel, Dussardier and Sénécal pursue with an unflinching sense of dedication the goals and aspirations they hope to achieve. But the latter, a humorless and intransigent doctrinaire, who evinces little or no humanity, only inspires the protagonist's dislike. Frédéric is more naturally drawn to the honest and lovable personality of Dussardier, the ignorant delivery boy, in large measure because of the detectable sentimental nature of his revolutionary ardor. The epilogue of L'Education sentimentale brings the novel to a full circle. The circularity of the novel's structure underscores the novel's major theme