“Marriage dozen” (symbol)
One of French old traditions was to give a bride a purse with twelve pieces. These “twelve pieces” were according to the means of the bride’s family: these might be twelve coins of gold, or silver, or even twelve dozen pieces, or twelve hundred pieces of gold. “The poorest shepherd-girl never marries without her dozen, be it only a dozen coppers”. This gold is considered a symbol of the bride’s future and happy life as a wife. Each New Year and Eugenie’s birthday the old Grandet used to present his beloved daughter with a gold coin, he said smiling that it was her “marriage dozen”, though there were much more than just twelve gold coins. The old man was not greedy to give Eugenie the gold as she never spent it, so the gold always stayed in the walls of his house.
Charles’ box (symbol)
The night when Eugenie gave Chatles all her gold coins collected by so many years he gave her something instead. It was a square box covered with an outer case of leather which was on the drawers. It was his mother’s present and was very precious to his heart. He gave it to Eugenie as a symbol of his deep gratitude. He could sell it, but this would be an act of sacrilege to him. Long years Eugenie kept this box as the biggest gift ever received. But when Charles returned from India he asked her to return him the box. Thus there love came to the end.
Money/gold (motif, symbol)
The entire plot of the novel is centered around Grandet and his commercial genius with the help of which he managed to scrape together a quite impressive fortune. Money and gold is everything for him, but he requires it not to live in glamour and wealth, but watch his gold sparkling in the boxes locked in his study. This trait of accumulating money is a reflection of incredible greed. Gold is a monster which devours the soul and all human feelings. Being blinded by the sparkle of gold Grandet made his wife die because of care neglect, and his daughter stay unhappy to the end of her life. Gold is a symbol of evil in all its power.
