Alphonse de Grandet

Author: [French] Balzac
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: Before his death, Old Goriot desperately wanted to see his daughters, but his tears moved them not at all. This made him realize the cruelty and indifference of money-driven society: money could buy everything, even his daughters. After Old Goriot's death, Rastignac ran between his two daughters, hoping to raise funds for the funeral, but in vain. They refused even to see him, citing the reason that the husband and wife declined all guests, as they were grieving terribly over their father's death. Later, in the funeral procession, there appeared these two "coat-of-arms-bearing empty carriages." With his sharp pen, Balzac exposed the base mentality, hypocritical faces, and utterly inhuman cold hearts of these two women in a most revealing manner.