Alphonse Daudet

Author: Balzac (French)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-01
Features: This book selects outstanding masterpieces from the rich world of world literature, each representing different aspects. The works enlighten our minds, nurture our souls, and cultivate our character. They have a profound and far-reaching influence and shaping effect on the readers' outlook on life, values, personality, cultivation, attitude, interests, and abilities. This is a representative work of Balzac. Before his death, Old Goriot desperately wanted to see his daughters, but his heartless daughters were utterly unmoved by his tears. This made him realize the cruelty and indifference of the money-driven society: money can buy everything, even daughters. After Old Goriot's death, Rastignac ran back and forth between his two daughters, hoping to raise funds for the funeral, but in vain. They refused even to see him, with the excuse that the husband and wife were refusing all guests, as they were grieving terribly. At the end, in the funeral procession, there appeared the two "coat-of-arms-bearing empty carriages." With his sharp pen, Balzac exposed the base mentality, hypocritical facades, and utterly inhumane cold hearts of these two women in a most revealing manner.