Personal Library -- Euonyme Grandet

Author: (French) Balzac
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-09-01
Features: Grandet is a wealthy and influential merchant in the French town of Saumur. The town is known for its wine production, so the price of wine barrels is quite good. During the French Revolution of 1789, Grandet was already a prosperous cooper. He could read and write, and at the age of forty, he married the daughter of a timber merchant; he bought the best vineyard in the district; he contracted to supply wine to the revolutionary army and made a fortune. During Napoleon's reign, he became the district mayor and was awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honor. In 1806, he inherited three estates from his mother-in-law, grandmother, and grandfather, becoming the "highest taxpayer" in the state. In good harvest years, he could produce seven or eight hundred barrels of wine, and he also owned thirteen farms and one hundred and twenty-seven Arpents of. He transformed from a merchant with only two thousand francs to a millionaire with seventeen million francs. Grandet was shrewd and cunning; he engaged in speculative trades, predicting "with the accuracy of an astronomer"; when it came to his wealth-building skills, "Mr. Grandet was a tiger, a python: he would lie there, crouch there, study his prey for a long time before pouncing, open his bloodthirsty money, pour in piles of gold and silver, and then go to sleep peacefully, as if a snake had just eaten its fill, motionless and calm, everything in order." During transactions, he haggled, feigned stuttering, and confused the other party into falling into his trap, ultimately making others lose and himself gain. Due to his stinginess and love of money, Grandet was meticulous and exacting in family life. He directed everything, commanded everything, and personally arranged the daily meals. He even forbade using an extra piece of sugar or an extra candle. His wife obeyed him as a slave. To save money, all the family's clothes were sewn by his wife and daughter. They spent their days doing needlework, and their daughter was already twenty-three years old, but Grandet had not even thought about arranging a marriage for her. Household chores were handled by the maid Nanon, who "protected the master's property as a loyal dog." She was tall and strong, like a grenadier, with a face covered in warts. There were two families of six people who frequently visited Grandet's house: the lawyer Cruchot family (the lawyer, the priest Cruchot and his wife, and their nephew De Fontaine) and the banker T. de Grassin family (Mr. and Mrs. Grassin and their son Adolf). The purpose of these visits was Grandet's only daughter, Eugénie. The old and cunning Grandet watched all this. He knew they were competing for his daughter for money and a dowry. So he played along, using his daughter as bait to "fish" and benefit from both sides. Grandet's brother in Paris, who was unable to repay his debts, had gone bankrupt. He was preparing to commit suicide. Before his death, he sent his son Charles to seek refuge with his uncle. Charles was twenty-two years old, one year younger than Eugénie. He was a handsome and frivolous young man. He brought "the most beautiful hunting suit, the most beautiful hunting rifle, the most beautiful knife, and the most beautiful sheath" from Paris. He also brought a set of "novelty vests" to his uncle's house. Eugénie had never left Saumur since her birth. She spent her days sewing socks and mending her father's clothes, living in a greasy room. Rarely were there guests in the house. When she first saw such a handsome cousin, she was completely captivated. She thought Charles was a wonderful person who had fallen from the heavens. His shiny, curly hair exuded a pleasant fragrance. She inhaled and smelled it, feeling dizzy with delight. His beautiful gloves made her long to touch them. She envied Charles' small hands, his fair skin, and the delicate and refined appearance of his face. Charles' arrival caused both the lawyer and the banker to worry. They feared Eugénie might be taken away by her cousin Charles. Eugénie was tall and strong. She did not have the ordinary kind of beauty, but her beauty was unmistakable, and only an artist would be captivated by it. Her "forehead had a slightly masculine look, but it was very refined, like the statue of Cupid by the Greek sculptor Phidias. A life of chastity made her gray eyes shine." Her calm and rosy face glowed like a blooming flower. She showed extraordinary concern for her cousin. She tried to hide from her father and treat Charles well, even taking from her own savings to entertain him. However, Grandet did not want to spend too much money. He wanted Nanon to serve Charles a soup made with crows. Nanon said the crows were for eating the dead. Grandet replied, "Then why don't we eat the dead? What is an inheritance?" From his brother's letter, Grandet learned that his brother had gone bankrupt and entrusted his son to him. However, Grandet did not want to take on any obligations and certainly did not want to carry the burden of Charles. He planned to send Charles to India immediately. But that night, he changed his mind and said he wanted to restore his brother's reputation. However, he wanted to do so without spending a penny and to gain the reputation of an "honorable brother." So, Grandet held his third dinner in his life. The guests were naturally the lawyer and banker families again. Because he was in need, Grandet feigned stuttering again. He stammered that he wanted to settle his brother's debts in Paris to avoid bankruptcy, but he had to hold onto the evidence of the debts. The lawyer Cruchot offered to go to Paris to handle this, but the travel expenses would be Grandet's. The banker, on the other hand, said he would not charge Grandet for the travel expenses and could go to Paris to take care of it. Grandet naturally agreed with the banker's suggestion and was delighted. Three days after the banker left for Paris, Grandet had Charles sign a declaration renouncing his inheritance rights to his father's estate and filled out a passport for him to leave for India. Eugénie secretly read Charles' letters to his friends and grew even more sympathetic to her bankrupt cousin. She gave him all her savings of six thousand francs as traveling money. Charles returned the favor with a gold jewelry box left by his mother. They secretly pledged their love. Eugénie promised she would wait for him to return, and Charles expressed the same determination. Then, he set off for India. Every New Year, Grandet had the habit of playing with his daughter's savings. In 1820, New Year arrived, and he noticed his daughter's savings had vanished, so he demanded strict answers. Eugénie had no choice but to admit she had given the money to her cousin. So, Grandet flew into a rage. He locked his daughter in her room, giving her only bread and water. No one's pleas mattered to him; "he was stubborn, cruel, and cold, like a stone." As a result, his wife fell ill. The lawyer Cruchot persuaded Grandet to reconcile with his daughter, saying that if his wife died, Eugénie could inherit her mother's estate as a daughter, and their property had never been divided. Frightened, Grandet finally released his daughter. One day, while Eugénie and her mother were admiring the jewelry box Charles had given them, Grandet happened to see them. He saw the gold on the box, his eyes lit up, and he leaped forward to snatch the box, "like a tiger pouncing on a sleeping infant." He grabbed the box and prepared to use a knife to dig out the gold. Eugénie panicked and claimed that if her father dared to touch the gold, she would commit suicide with this knife. The father and daughter argued until Grandet's wife fainted. After that, Grandet's wife never recovered. In October 1822, this poor and timid wife died. Through the lawyer, Grandet had his daughter sign a document renouncing her inheritance rights to her mother's estate, taking full control of the entire estate. In 1827, Grandet was already eighty-two years old. He suffered from paresis and had to let his daughter learn the secrets of managing the property. He could no longer move but sat in a rotating chair, personally directing his daughter to stack bags of money secretly. When his daughter returned the key to the safe room to him, he hid it in his vest pocket and often stroked it with his hand. Before his death, he asked his daughter to place the gold on the table, and he stared at it as if a child who had just learned to see. He said, "This will warm my heart!" The priest came to perform the last rites, placing a gold cross to his lips for a kiss. Seeing the gold, Grandet made a horrifying gesture, trying to grab it. This effort took his life. In the end, he called Eugénie to him and said, "Take good care of everything! Account to me when you come to the other side!" He died. By the time Eugénie was thirty, she had become wealthy, but she was still alone. For her, wealth was not comfort; what she needed was warmth and love. For seven years, she had waited for Charles to return. She carried the jewelry box he had left her as a precious treasure. But after he left, she heard nothing from him. Charles had become wealthy in India. He engaged in slave trading, usury, tax evasion, smuggling—anything to make money. He was ruthless and greedy to the extreme. Truly worthy of being Grandet's descendant! He had affairs with women of all colors, completely forgetting his cousin. In 1827, he returned to France with a fortune of a million francs. On the ship, he met a nobleman, the Marquis de Obernion. The Marquis had a hideous and unmarried daughter (who looked like a dragonfly). Charles, in his eagerness to climb the social ladder, married the Marquis's daughter. He wrote to Eugénie and returned the six thousand francs he had given her, along with two thousand francs in interest. Eugénie was stunned by Charles' heartless behavior and deeply traumatized. Later, she agreed to marry the son of the lawyer, the president of the primary court, De Fontaine, but only as a formal marriage. Because De Fontaine pursued her only for money, she could give him the money while keeping her emotions free. Several years later, De Fontaine became the president of the court. However, on the eighth day after being elected as a councilor in Saumur, he died. Eugénie was thirty-three when she became a widow. She paid one and a half million francs to settle her uncle's debts, allowing her cousin to live a happy and honorable life. She herself lived a life of seclusion, piety, and charity, and "advanced to heaven through a series of good deeds and acts of kindness."