One of Balzac's literary works, Le Pere Goriot, is a harsh critic of the capitalist ideologies that dominated 19th-century French society and the larger population's pursuit of material success. Le Pere Goriot, in my opinion, transcends the typical social norms of the 19th Century, when it was challenging to shift from one social class to another. This is accomplished by Balzac's purposeful addition of Eugene de Rastignac, a student who fights to improve his life despite the challenging circumstances to which he is subjected. but on the other side, Le Pere Goriot is characterized with immense adoption of dysfunctional families goes a long way in demystifying the fact that money does not only shape people’s natural behaviors but also critical institutions like the family unit. Further, Balzac keenly includes characters like Vautrin to reveal how initially held societal morals periodically undergo erosion through revealing the homosexual ways of life of this character. This paper seeks to present personal reactions to Balzac’s Le Pere Goriot by analyzing how issues of same sex desire, use of money in dysfunctional families and strive for social equality.
Strive for Social Equality in Le Pere Goriot
Balzac’s Le Pere Goriot is a true representation of the French society in the 19th century. Balzac deliberately includes Rastignac to reveal how a clique of people in the lower social class struggle beyond the odds to attain better positions in their locales. The setting of the novel is in Maison Vaucquer; one of the poorest boarding houses located in rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve, Paris. Rastignac tries to pursue shortcuts towards wealth when he decides to do away with raeding his law books when he is introduced by Madame de Beauseant to other high ranking societies filled with people who do anything to achieve higher status quos. For instance, Anastasia and Delphine are Goriot’s daughters who marry their husbands because of their ranks and money.
Balzac clearly brings the fact that everything in the 19th century French society would be quoted for money. In this case, people were filled with greed in pursuit for self-satisfaction. Corruption is considered as the order of the day in Le Pere Goriot. I would attribute the high levels of corruption in this novel to evident monetary value attributed to all communal supplies. People were expensively charged for their stay in the boarding house, a simple ride o horse drawn carriages and even basic commodities like food. Money controls the society and spearheads the ideals of capitalism even in the aristocratic societies. This explains why Rastignac agrees to adhere to the teachings of Madame de Beauseant and Vautrin when they advise him on the ruthless ways embraced by the successful members of the society and the inhuman strategies pursued by people to achieve their dreams. As a result, Rastignac uses all means availed to make changes in his life.
Same Sex Relationships
While Le Pere Goriot was written in the early 1800 when the society was conservative and only upheld cross gender sexual relationships. However, Balzac’s inclusion of Vautrin and his interests in Rasignac leave some questions unanswered. One of the key questions that ran in my mind was; is there a possibility that Balzac foresaw the homosexual cases evident in today’s societies? Vautrin’s affection for Rastignac and other people of the nale gender reveals what the current society has come to term with. Vautrin’s interests in Eugene are revealed when he takes the step of penetrating into his hidden secrets to control Eugene’s ways of life. As a matter of fact, Balzac chooses the verbs he uses in this scenario with high levels of mastery to reveal the sexual desires of Vautrin. In the original French text, Vautrin uses phrases like “Je vous aime, foi de” (145) and “J'ai la passion de me devouer pour un autre” (217) which are not only suggestive but also luring.
In my opinion, Balzac’s Le Pere Goriot is a reflection of the current societal deformations despite the fact that it was written in the beginning of the 19th century. As a matter of fact, inclusion of Vautrin in Le Pere Goriot was deliberate to caution the French society of that time on the social disorientations emanating from weakened family units and pursuit for economic statuses. Vautrin does not only show interest in Rastignac but also other men. For instance, when one of the scholars passes by at the time of the old man’s assassination, Vautrin clearly discloses
Money and Dysfunctional Families
Balzac uses dysfunctional families in Le Pere Goriot to show how money played a central role in evolving French capitalist societies based on the influences it had not only as a medium of exchange but also as a medium of shaping the behavior of people and key societal institutions like the family unit. In my view, the root cause of the kind of social distortions and breakdown of family ties in Le Pere Goriot is money. For instance, key figures in this society like the Goriot are alienated from their keens that are in constant pursuit for monetary satisfaction. On the other hand, I would argue that Balzac’s deliberate inclusion of dysfunctional families in Le Pere Goriot is meant to criticize the bully forces of capitalism which played a significant role in instilling changes in previously held conceptions of mankind, the world of art and the society at large.
It is important to put into consideration the fact that the storyline of Le Pere Goriot starts in 1819; one of the remarkable periods in the history of France. This period followed Napoleon’s defeat of 1815 and the French economy was in deep struggle for establishment of ideals and national identity. In this period, the people of France were faced with the challenge of ensuring that their national identity incorporated the revolutionary political realities as well as the initially set monarchial principles. In my view, the level of confusion faced by the society at this time was multidimensional and played a significant role in distorting previously set morals and societal institutions like the family unit. An analysis of family ties and relationships between characters in Le Pere Goriot clearly tells that the French society of this period was in great transition with its members being puzzled with issues like personal expectations, interpersonal relations and existent business ties. On the other hand, characters in Le Pere Goriot are forced to compete with the volatile social class structures and prevailing economic structures in a society that is rapidly changing. As a result, vital aspects like family are put under compromise. Further, it is important to appreciate the fact that Balzac writes Le Pere Goriot at a time when the French economy was transiting into the new era of laissez-faire capitalism with a greater population being money hungry. While dysfunctional families were looked at as obscure, the prevailing economic conditions of that period justify their existence.
The relationships between keens in Le Pere Goriot are weakened by individualistic pursuit for fame and riches. For instance, the familial structure of the fanatical old Goriot with his children is under great restrictions. The two daughters marry their husbands for money and fame. They are so obsessed with their marriage lives that they do not see their father in his death bed because of the social class they had acquired. This is despite the fact that Goriot brought up his daughters with adoration, spending his fortune to educate them and married them off to abled members of the society. At one moment, Delphine tells Rastignac that her “poor father would have sold himself if his body could have fetched six thousand francs” (214).
Conclusion
Issues of issues of same sex desires, use of money in dysfunctional families and strive for social equality are clearly evident and well presented in Balzac’s Le Pere Goriot. While Balzac writes this novel in the early years of the 19th century, it is clear that the works of literature presented do not only give the audience a true reflection of the French society in the periods of struggle for laissez-faire capitalism but also how people strived towards realizing financial stability. In their pursuit for money, people did away with critical societal issues like retaining previously held norms. On the other hand, Balzac made a deliberate inclusion of key characters like Goriot and Rastignac to show how people struggled for better social statuses in a community that was driven by pursuit for fame and wealth with the gap between the lower and upper social classes being very wide.
Works Cited
De Balzac, Honore. Le père Goriot. Le livre de poche, 2012.
