“The modern god,--the only god in whom faith is preserved,--money, is here, in all its power, manifested in a single countenance.”
In the character of old Grandet, Balzac depicts his “favorite” kind of person – a person completely devoured by money and gold, by greed and meanness. Grandet’s avarice goes beyond the frames of common love to money and an ability to lead a wealthy life. Being extremely rich he lives extremely poorly. The character of Grandet is typical for Balzac’s works in general; in many other novels he develops such kind of a person, and very often such “misers” are opposed to “fast livers”.
“His arrival at this dwelling, and his sudden fall into the midst of this assembly, can only be likened to that of a snail into a beehive, or the introduction of a peacock into some village poultry-yard”
“When Charles saw the yellow, smoke-stained walls of the well of the staircase, where each worm-eaten step shook under the heavy foot-fall of his uncle, his expectations began to sober more and more. He fancied himself in a hen-roost.”
Being introduced into the house of his uncle young Charles, Grandet was impressed by poverty of the dwelling, since everything around him was so old and dirty that he could not believe at first that people could live in a place like this. After Balzac's presentation of glamorous life in Paris, the similes used in the quotes describe better what he might feel. Later, Charles got used to living here, but still this kind of life was not the one he wanted to lead. The contrast of Parisian life and the one in Saumur as led by the two brothers is vivid.
“What a crazy idea of my brother to bequeath his son to me! A fine legacy! I have not fifty francs to give him. What are fifty francs to a dandy who looked at my barometer as if he meant to make firewood of it!”
Grandet was not very happy because of all the situations that occurred, but his misery had nothing to do with the fact that his only brother died; when this relative committed suicide, Grandet’s heart was not moved by the loss at all. The only reason he was upset about was that his duty, or to say the expectations of all the people, was that he had to help his nephew. Old Grandet was able to come out of any situation a “hero” without spending a single franc. He managed to do the same this time as well.
