Author: honore de balzac

Father Goriot

AUTHOR: HONORE DE BALZAC

Honore de Balzac came to the idea to write a series of a novel about time and place he lived in and to combine them all under the name "The Human Comedy". He wanted to cover all the important subjects from French society to which he belonged. "Father Goriot" is one of the most famous novels from "The Human Comedy". This novel is in part called "Scenes from Parisian Life" and its theme perfectly belongs to this region. It’s a novel which speaks about money, love, success, aristocracy and the desire to stand out.

Balzac lived in France during political turbulence and lifestyle mixing of different classes. It was a time when social injustice was the biggest evil against which the lower classes couldn’t fight. Hunger and poverty ruled most of the country while the esteemed social classes enjoyed balls, socializing and all other perks of an aristocratic lifestyle. Balzac combined all of those motives into different elements of those day’s society by describing a small Mansion Vaquer whose owner was widower Vaquer. People who lived in the mansion had their reasons to be there, and the common reason was the money they owned and made. The mansion is also social structured, and people got the room they could afford. Balzac did that structure so he could present the social scale. Those who had more money had better rooms, and those who didn’t have a lot of it had to take what they got.

The novel’s theme is the life in Paris and it is shown in a series of numerous events. The narrator is unknown, objective and omniscient. It is possible to see some of Balzac’s personal thoughts in the novel. The main problem is shown through a father’s love for his daughters that had no limits. Other analyzed problems are the fight for survival in a big city, longing for success and reputation, frauds, lies and betrayals as the basic human foundation that allow us to survive. All of these motives can be found in the lives of Goriot and his daughters, Eugene Rastignac, Vautrin, and other tenants of the mansion. This work was written during Realism, and it became one of its most significant representatives, not only in France but also worldwide. Balzac painted a picture of the French society that doesn’t exist today, but it’s still pretty much alive in his works because of the detailed descriptions of everyday life. Every part of society, people’s opinion about the world, the living space, the desire for certain things and love are so perfectly described that we can feel the power of that world. Cold colors are present because they help to describe the poverty’s atmosphere.

Balzac put a part of himself in his work by commenting on the youth’s potential to succeed. Success makes people do all sorts of things without always getting the result. Balzac stated his subjective and objective opinion about the society and its individuals that give us an insight into the mentalities of the citizens and the artist himself. Balzac’s stance is very clear on everything because he knew what it’s like to be poor and fighting for your life and he also had a vast knowledge about the aristocracy’s nature because he had a few chances to spend some time with them.

Genre: novel

Theme: A life struggle intertwined with themes of father’s limitless love, longing for reputation and success, frauds, disappointments, and lies. The work begins with a description of the neighborhood in which the mansion was built. In the beginning, Balzac asks rhetoric questions such as: "Will the people outside Paris understand this novel?" He also gave an answer to his own question by saying it will only be known by the people living between Montmartre and Montrouge.

Mansion Vaquer was visited by the people who lived there or ate lunch there. When this story took place, seven people were living in the mansion. The two best apartments were on the first floor. One of them belonged to Mrs. Couture, a Republican official’s widow and the other one belonged to widow Vaquer. Next to Mrs. Couture lived a young girl Victorine Taillefer and she respected Mrs. Couture like she was her mother. On the second floor, there were two apartments; one of them belonged to a senior man named Poret and the other one was Vautrin’s. Vautrin had about forty years when he wore a black wig, and he presented himself as an ex-salesman. The third floor had four rooms, and only two were rented; one belonged to Ms. Michonneau, and the other one was Goriot’s. He used to work as a vermicelli-maker. The other two rooms were meant for poor students who would come and go fast. A student by the name Eugene de Rastignac lived in one of them. Above the third floor was an attic where they dried their laundry and two little rooms where the house servant Cristopher and the chef Sylvie lived. Every tenant was unusual and recognizable for some unique characteristics, starting from their poverty, age, and powerlessness, desire to live, desire to defraud, the past, potential and everything revolved around one thing – money. Everyone’s life path was pretty clear, except for Goriot’s. No one understood him very well or knew how he ended up poor and miserable. He was a complete mystery to them but he didn’t lose a night of sleep over it. He had way bigger concerns than their opinions.

Another unclear character is also mister Vautrin. On one hand he’s a good guy and on the other he is a traitor. There are many defrauds and falling in love in the mansion, for example in the beginning widow Vauqer had some feelings for Goriot but he didn’t pay much attention to her so she cut off his access to life necessities such as food, water, heat… The tenants, especially Mrs. Vauqer, were interested in the beautiful women Goriot was seen with. They thought that the women were his lovers but it turned out they were his daughters. Everyone was surprised by it because they clearly had a better life than their father. With time Goriot moved up to the third floor and paid less for food and rent. He also gave up tobacco. His face started changing and his health was getting worse. He was changing so rapidly that the tenants felt uncomfortable looking at him. No one still believed he actually had such daughter and lived in such misery. What they didn’t know was he fought in all kind of way to gain access to money so he could give it to his daughtersAfter a detailed description of the mansion, its tenants, Goriot and his lifestyle, Mrs. Vaquers love, and the opinions of the tenants about the mysterious Goriot the plot switches over to another character – Eugene de Rastignac. During his first year in Paris, he had a lot of time to experience all the pleasures of the town, and he loved all of them. He admired the women, the city, and the province and with time he wanted to upgrade on the social scale. Rastignac was smart enough to see the influence women had in the society, so he decided to enter their world abruptly and find himself a woman who will protect him.

Rastignac comes from a poor family which saved all of its money and sent it to him so he could have a good life. Since his aunt Mrs. de Marcillac had some friends in the highest nobility classes, he discovered a way to succeed in the society. He started asking her all sorts of questions about his family, and in the end, she suggested him to go and meet Ms. de Beauseant. She was, because of her name and wealth, one of the most important noblewomen of the Parisian society.

Soon Rastignac entered the high society. The desire to succeed and get rich started to pile up. The world became beautiful and filled with hope for him. He went to dances, talked to higher class people and planned his success. One day he saw Goriot preparing his silver to take it to a pawn shop and he couldn’t believe when Goriot told him that Ms. Restaud, Rastignac’s desire, was actually Goriot’s daughter. Every word and situation that Rastignac retold to the old man made him cry.

One afternoon Rastignac went to visit Mrs. Beauseant and there he saw the perks of an aristocratic lifestyle. He went to the theater with her and everyone looked at them. Rastignac felt like he was dreaming. That night he met Delphine de Nuncigen, Goriot’s second daughter. Mrs. Restaud already began to ignore Rastignac’s calls because he unintentionally mentioned her father and she was obviously ashamed of him. Mrs. Nuncigen was way above her sister, in fact, she didn’t even consider her to be her sister. The two of them disowned each other like they disowned their father. Rastignac didn’t hide his infatuation with her. He started to flirt with de Nuncigen and she kept her coolness and distance but she enjoyed it. AS Rastignac penetrated deeper and deeper into the high society he needed to pay more time to himself. He didn’t know how to fence, didn’t have a lot of money or fancy clothes for the higher class socializing. Mrs. Beauseant gave him a couple of advices about success and getting rich and it motivated him even more. He sat at the table and started writing a heartfelt letter to his mother and sisters, telling them about his big plan and asking them for money. When his mother read the letter about a new life and successes she promised to give him all of her money and to make him some shirts, handkerchiefs and other things. Rastignac was ready for this lifestyle and his aspiration to acquire money got bigger.

Rastignac told everything to Goriot, and the two of them became great friends. Goriot used the student to get information on his daughters. Mrs. Delphine asked Rastignac to come to her house. She told him in confidence all about her despair. She was deeply unhappy, even though she looked beautiful. Rastignac admitted his feelings, and she orders him to take her last 100 francs and go gamble.