Talk:Eugénie Grandet

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I have found a discrepancy about the age of Grandet. Could you please visit this page and help me solve this mystery: http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-rjf.K10herYu4ZWXRz2Ea_biMGfQBSM-?cq=1&p=44. Thank you.

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This article was automatically assessed because at least one article was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 03:13, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Misrepresentation of Eugenie Grandet's character
The intro to this article says the Eugenie inherits her father's miserliness. The end of the article states that she continues, as an orphan and widow, to live in his miserly ways, but without his obsession with gold. This is not correct.

The one who inherits the miserliness of Grandet is Charles, his nephew. Balzac states this explicitly near the end of the book when he says that this trait "found an outlet" in Charles, rather than his daughter. Charles, grows from a callow and spoiled young man into a corrupt libertine and finally into a hard-nosed skinflint.

Eugenie, whose character is one of modesty, piety, and love, continues to live in the simple and austere manner of her upbringing, but she knows nothing else, and, having been betrayed in love, wants nothing for herself. In tremendous contrast to her father, she is extremely generous with people, giving Nanon a fine marriage portion, distributing funds far and wide for charity, and endowing public institutions like libraries and hospitals. Her personal austerity springs from a lack of interest in material comfort, not from miserliness.

72.37.171.100 (talk) 13:40, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Misleading plot summary.
The plot summary currently says this:

"At the end of the novel, although by the standards of the time she should be unhappy - childless and unmarried - she is instead quite content with her lot. She has learned to live life on her own terms, and has also learned of the hypocrisy and shallowness of the bourgeois and that her best friends will come from the lower classes."

Eugenie has a broken heart; it is misleading to say that she is "quite content". "She has learned to live life on her own terms" has no objective basis in the text, it is just a personal interpretation. Also, Eugenie's life has been so sheltered that she has shown little consciousness of social classes.

It is not correct to say that Eugenie becomes miserly, but under the influence of her father she does become tight-fisted with her financial dealings. Balzac avoids over-simplifications like "inheriting" someone else's miserliness.

"By now both of Eugénie's parents have died". This sentence swiftly glides past the climactic chapters of the book, which concern the death of Mme Grandet (and Grandet's fury at Eugenie having given away her treasure). Eugenie's most important relationship is with her mother. Generally, Charles's story is given undue prominence in the plot summary. Michaelpeverett (talk) 15:25, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

Real World Context
I am surprised that this entry has not attracted more editorial attention. However, there is a large flag asking for "real world context" and I enjoyed the book, so will attempt to make some relevant additions and changes. This will be slow since I cannot use my right hand for some weeks, so please be lenient.Catchsinger (talk) 16:00, 20 January 2020 (UTC) There are copious references to maria Du Fresnay in the Balzac entry as well as a page to herself. Is the latter really needed?Catchsinger (talk) 17:17, 21 January 2020 (UTC) Well, as my hand has healed I have become more efficient at cut and paste and have tightened up the plot content while adding material about finance. I would like to remove the maintenance flag but will leave the article for a while in case anyone feels that the removals are excessive or the external material too little. Catchsinger (talk) 18:25, 28 January 2020 (UTC)