Fanatic love to money
The main theme of the novel is the evil power of money destroying the truly human in man, the theme of the destructive power of money over people, the gradual degradation of the soul under the influence of gold.The novel portrays the provincial town of Saumur where a struggle for the hand and heart of the richest bride - Eugenia Grande goes. A former bochar, Felix Grandet managed to get rich during the Great French Revolution. Taking possession of the former noble lands, he became mayor of his native city and was awarded the Order. During the restoration period his capital has doubled. However, Grandet with nineteen million keeps his wife and daughter half-starved and in the autumn begins to heat his house after all. He severely punished Eugenie for giving a few gold coins to her beloved. Grandet before his death bequeathed his daughter to keep his gold and report back to her father in the next world. He is a person, who has devoted his outstanding abilities to the fanatical idea of enrichment, without ever realizing that there are other values in life. The theme was very actual in the XIX century.
Clemency
On the example of Eugenie Grandet we may follow how Balzac develops this theme. First we perceive Eugenie as a sacrifice to the father’s tyranny. We sympathize with this unfortunate woman when she was betrayed by her lover. We admire when the gentle and sensual Eugenie turns out to be a strong personality who has managed to withstand the blows of fate with dignity. She nobly acted with respect to her unfaithful bloved, having paid two million debts of the deceased father, her uncle, so that her cousin was not considered the son of a bankrupt. Eugenie continued to successfully run the family business, but at the same time she directed part of the funds to help the poor and to develop education. Her warm heart is oppossed to the fanaticism of her father.
The picture of provincial life in France
Creating "The Human Comedy" Balzac set himself a task, which was not yet known in literature. He strove for truthfulness and merciless display of contemporary France, showing the real life of his contemporaries. Introducing the main character – miser and old merchant Grandet, Balzac first of all describes the situation in which Grandet lives and acts: the street in the provincial town of Saumur, the life and customs of its inhabitants. A picture of an accurate business inventory of the property is before the reader, and essential details that characterize Grandet are underlined: his frugality, the skillful use of his capital. In describing the way of life the author discovers the remarkable mastery of an essay sketch, the expressed realistic detail. Every things here is significant; this is not only a description, but at the same time a characteristic. Having outlined the character, Balzac goes to his house and his household. The image of the material situation serves a writer to characterize the characters. Outside of these things, the inhabitants of the bourgeois world do not exist, things are a shell on which the image of the owner is imprinted. Describing all the details Balzac manages to give a picture of provincial life in France at his time.
