- Summary
- Balzac
- Father Goriot
Everything happens at the “mama” boarding house. Voke is a widow, about fifty years old. The boarding house building has four floors. The best rooms are located on the second floor. They live there: the widow Vauquer and Madame Couture, she was also a widow. Madame Couture did not live alone, but with a young novice, Victorine Taillefer. On the third floor are an elderly man, Poiret, and Mr. Vautrin, who is about forty years old. He was once a merchant. And the floor above was occupied by an old maid - Mademoiselle Machine, Goriot, who traded bread in the old days, and student Eugene de Rastignac. Almost all the residents of the boarding house were far from wearing neat and new clothes, and the appearance of their faces was very old. Only the unrecognized daughter of a millionaire, Quiz, stands out.
But at one point the quiet life at Voke’s house changes its course. Rastignac wanted to break into the very cream of society.
Papa Goriot made everyone laugh and grin. His age is sixty-nine years old. He moved in with “mother” Voke, leaving his job. He immediately moved into a nice room and everyone called him “Mr.,” and the widowed hostess herself cherished the dream of becoming his wife. After a while, he squandered all his finances and began to live on the fourth floor. Sometimes his daughters visited him.
Towards the end of November, Rastignac finally makes his way to the ball with Viscountess Beauseant. There he meets Countess Anastasi de Resto.
One day, arriving at Countess de Resto’s chambers, Eugene met Goriot there. There, the young man meets Anastasia’s secret beau, Count Maxime de Tray, and Mr. de Resto himself, the countess’s husband. Initially, everything was fine, and small talk proceeded without any stumbling blocks, but as soon as he uttered one name Goriot, Eugene was immediately kicked out the door.
Returning to the boarding house, the young man takes Father Gorio under his protection and his wing. Eugene writes letters to his relatives asking for financial help.
A few months later, a young student falls in love with Delphine, but at the same time flirts with Victorine, because Vautrin offered a deal that is hard to refuse. Later, the young man confesses his fiery feelings to Victorina.
Next, it tells about the duel with a fatal outcome for Victorine’s brother, about the fact that Eugene’s apartment was paid for by Father Goriot, and about many more misfortunes of the daughters of the same Goriot.
All these problems lead to Gorio's deathbed. His death is painful and, unfortunately, not quick. At this very moment of death, he realizes that his daughters do not love him and they do not need him at all. He buried Eugene Goriot at his own expense.
You can use this text for a reader's diary
Last ball
Both sisters went to the ball at the Viscountess de Beauseant. All of Paris is there. Everyone is wondering how the Viscountess will withstand the collapse of her love. She, all in white, like a marble statue, behaves majestically and calmly. The sisters dance and do not think at all about their abandoned father. Only Eugene de Rastignac cannot forget the poor man, whom he left in the care of his friend-doctor Bianchon. The doctor said that the old man must die. Returning from the ball, Eugene spends all his time at the bedside of the dying man and thinks about how much money to bury him. He and Bianchon bury the old man, to whom the daughters never came and did not give money for the funeral, most pathetically observing the minimum decency that their meager means allow them.
And Rastignac, moving away from the wretched grave and looking at Paris from a high hill, firmly decides to measure his strength with him.
There are many sad stories in the world. And one of them is the story of a French genius. A summary of the novel “Père Goriot” by Balzac about selfless fatherly love and callous daughters’ hearts is given above. The work touches on timeless themes.
Rastignac's blunders
Without delaying the visit for long, Eugene comes to the house of Countess de Resto. And receives a portion of humiliation. The servants laugh at the fact that he came on foot. Eugene himself understands that by dressing in an evening suit during the day, he made a mistake. In addition, he prevented the meeting of the countess and her lover Maxime de Tray. The last “blunder” that Rastignac makes is that at dinner he says that he lives in the same boarding house where Father Goriot lives. He is sternly corrected: not by dad, but by Monsieur Goriot, but this mention of the old man forever closes the doors of this house for Eugene. The events of the novel “Père Goriot,” a summary of which we are telling, continue to develop at an accelerated pace.
Rastignac in high society
A handsome young student, realizing that by working his ass off, he won’t get anywhere and won’t be able to help his poor family, asks his aunt for a letter of recommendation for a legislator in high society and his relative, Viscountess de Beauseant. This grand lady, receiving Eugene, invites him to her ball, thereby opening all the houses of the Saint-Germain suburb to the poor student. At the ball, Eugene is interested in Countess de Resto and receives an invitation from her to visit her. Having learned about this, Vautrin publicly says that Father Goriot recently paid the countess’s bill to the moneylender. From that time on, Vautrin began to keep a close eye on Rastignac. This is how one of the intrigues of the book “Père Goriot” begins, a summary of which is unable to convey the growing tension.
