Balzac
Balzac is the most representative representative of French critical realism literature in the 19th century, representing the comedy of man (collection).
"Human Comedy"
"The Comedy of Man" is Balzac's collection of works, a total of more than 90 works, written more than 2,000 characters, a large number of exquisite egoists appeared on the scene, the down-and-out aristocrats, greedy capitalists, miserly usurers, scheming citizens, inhuman bullies, fierce politicians, etc., depicting the ugly souls chasing wealth under the influence of money worship, showing the lack of humanity of all sentient beings under the domination of materialism.
Whether it is the upper nobility, politicians, capitalists, or the middle-class white-collar class, or the common people, the whole society is involved in money, surrounded by a naked desire for money.
Capitalists, politicians, aristocrats, and careerists in high society, who are extremely extravagant and greedy for wealth; middle-class brokers, merchants, notaries, and judges, who desperately want to make money, think every day about how to increase their wealth, climb the elite, and thus squeeze into high society; the workers, citizens, and small bourgeoisie at the bottom of society, they are overworked, nervously tired, and every day they think about how to stabilize their current lives, maintain their competitive advantage, not deprive them of their vested interests, and at the same time improve their living standards. Make yourself less tired.
The pursuit of fame and profit, materialism, money worship, and hedonism became the characteristics of the times at that time, and an extremely egoistic, selfish and ruthless money ideology pervaded the entire society. Some people are stingy to accumulate money, some people become rich through financial fraud, some people use women to climb up, brothers and brothers for money, fathers and daughters cheat each other to rob each other of inheritance, some people use religion to accumulate wealth, and some people use marriage to ensure their status.
"The Usurers" – Miserly accumulates money
Gobsek in The Usurer is a typical miserly accumulator, a greedy and miserly money lender. Gobsek amassed wealth by collecting collateral and lending to usurers, using more primitive means of enrichment than other bankers or usurers.
Gobsek watched greedily at all the world's riches, eager to collect them all in his pockets, from the gold and silver of the rich to the gold and silver of the merchants, and even the baskets of the poor; the interest rates on the loans could not have been higher.
Gaubsek's possessiveness of possessions developed to the extreme of perverted behavior. Until his death, he refused to give up everything he had, and his inheritance was like a commodity in the grocery market, tea, coffee, cotton, sugar, sweet wine, tobacco and wine, and the house was piled up with furniture, silverware, antiques, books, bottles, and all kinds of rotten food, and the house emitted all kinds of different odors.
Bank of Neuchengen – Financial fraud for money
Neuchengen in The Bank of Neuchengen is a typical example. After successfully gaining the trust of ordinary people, Neuchengen paid customers with worthless securities in exchange for cash in their hands.
After the securities circulated in the national market, they were sought after by the people, and everyone rushed to buy his securities, and he used the money they bought his securities to buy reliable public bonds. When the situation was tense, he immediately stopped paying, and the securities in people's hands could not be exchanged for any money, and his public debt was not affected in any way.
The history of Neuchengen shows that he gathered people's property into his own hands entirely by means of despicable deception. In Neuchengen's eyes, there is no such thing as credit, morality, or conscience. Neuchengen's moral code is whether he can get money, and in his eyes, as long as he has money, he has credit, morality, and conscience.
"Colonel Shabbe" – Deprivation of inheritance and snatching of inheritance
A typical example is Colonel Chabe, who was originally an imperial earl who was mistaken for a death in a war, and his wife inherited his property and married the fugitive nobleman Farlow.
Unexpectedly, Colonel Chabe returned alive, and when he returned ready to ask for the property, the Countess of Farlow refused to recognize her former husband. Because the Farof people know that once she recognizes his ex-husband, her property must be returned to the ex-husband, and she will have nothing.
When she understood what was at stake, she immediately used Colonel Xiabei's deep love for her to deceive him in an attempt to make Colonel Xiabei give up his property. After all the conspiracies were uncovered, the Farovs destroyed Count Shabbé's identity documents and took away all his possessions, and Colonel Shabbe was exiled to a beggar's shelter as an unemployed vagabond.
All of the above reflects the 19th century France, where money has penetrated into all aspects of life, and everyone is desperately trying to make money, busy pursuing wealth, and using this to prove their value and status. Money has become everything, people only have money in their eyes, except for money, everything is virtual, whether it is accumulated money over time, or money through fraud, anyway, as long as you can get rich.
At the same time, human nature has been distorted by money. In the face of money, all family, friendship, and love have disappeared, and the bond of interpersonal relations is not blood, nor is it a contract or law, but interests and money.
"The Tall Old Man" – Husbands use their wives
In the money-seeking society of fame and profit, men use these women as their stepping stones in the name of love to climb up, and once they lose their use value, those men will not hesitate to abandon them, like throwing away an abandoned chess piece.
For example, in "The Tall Old Man", the Marquis of Argyda, after thoroughly understanding the nature of society, did not hesitate to abandon his mistress Madame De Beauséjon and instead marry a bourgeois lady, just because she had enough money to marry. He needed money to maintain the luxury of his aristocratic life.
Eugenie Grande – Father deceives his daughter
When He knew that his wife would soon die, he immediately changed his indifferent and stingy attitude towards the poor mother and daughter, and took the initiative to give money to his wife and daughter, and was obedient to them, and even surprised his wife and daughter.
Grantaire asked the best doctor to treat his wife, and it turned out that he did so because he was afraid that his wife would let her daughter inherit her mother's property, which would kill the old miser.
After the death of Grantaire's wife, in the face of a huge amount of property, Grande showed his amazing "wisdom", and he used his emotional weight to tempt his daughter to give up the inheritance of her mother's property.
"Tall Old Man" - the daughter squeezes the old father
The tall old man in "The Tall Old Man" is an upstart, who refuses to marry again after losing his beloved wife, and transfers all his love for his wife to his two daughters, seeing them as pearls in the palm of his hand and giving them everything for them to enjoy. He hired the best teachers to cultivate their talents, to learn to ride horses, to have their own vehicles, and to live in luxury like the mistress of a rich old lord.
After the two daughters became adults, the old man took out a high dowry, so that his two daughters married into the rich, became the countess and the banker's wife, and joined the high society.
At this time, the tall old man was very respected by the two daughters, but the good times were not long, and after the marriage, the two daughters spent money like dirt, and when they had no money or ran out of money, they asked their fathers. Even if you have money, you can't fill these two bottomless pits. After the old man was squeezed out of the last dime by his two daughters, he could no longer exchange money for the love of his daughters, and was eventually abandoned by his two daughters.
At the last moment of his life, the tall old man died alone in the cold room. At this moment, his two good daughters are carefully dressed up and preparing to attend Madame Bauséon's grand ball. The distortion of human nature by money is particularly evident at this moment.
A society controlled by money
People's material concepts are also getting stronger and stronger, money has become the main criterion for measuring a person's value, and interests have become the link between people. Money has fully penetrated into all corners of society and become the master of life. Because of the money, the husband uses the wife, the father cheats on the daughter, the daughter squeezes the old father dry, and the lover abandons each other. Family affection, love, friendship These inseparable emotions between people have become a cold relationship between people and money.
In that era, in that society, everyone seemed to be acting ambitious, and they wanted to be stronger and live a better life. They are constantly acting, constantly changing identities, and have a motivation to never give up until they reach their goals, even if they have to go through thrilling adventures, even if they play tricks and unscrupulous means.
Although everyone is turbulent inside, act for the sake of insatiable desires. However, each person is not his own master, they are subject to the machines of the times, and they are even more unable to move in the face of powerful social control systems.