No. 470 Balzac tells us that it is a real pity to be poor and have only money left

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Honoré ▪ de ▪ Balzac, French novelist. In 1816, Balzac entered the law school. After graduation, Balzac resolutely embarked on the road of literary creation despite his parents' objections. In the 1830s and 1840s, Balzac created a large number of works with amazing perseverance, and his life was fruitful, writing a total of 91 novels and shaping more than 2,400 vivid characters, collectively known as "Human Comedy".

One of the "excellent frames" in the "Comedy of Man" series is "Eugenie ▪ Grande". The novel takes the family life of the protagonist Grande as the main line, and takes Eugenie's love tragedy as the core. There is no sharp knife, poison, and bloodshed in the novel, but it perfectly portrays the disputes and estrangement between people because of money in a society where money is supreme, showing the corrosion and poisoning of people's hearts by money, and the root cause of money making people lose their nature and sink into depravity.

From the plot point of view, the whole book revolves around 3 clues: the waves caused by the despotism within the Grandaire family, the intrigue between the banker and the notary outside the family, and the pain of Eugenie's love for Charles ▪ Grande but being betrayed.

Formerly a cooper, Grande married the daughter of a plankman at the age of 40 and bought the best vineyard in the area. Later, he received three inheritances from his mother-in-law, his wife's grandfather, and his grandmother. As one of the richest and most prestigious merchants in the French city of Sol, Grandaire was rich but not a dime. He used the revolutionary situation of 1789 and various means to increase his property rapidly. In the barrel business, Grantaire calculated as accurately as an astronomer, speculative trading never failed, and everyone in the district suffered his losses.

In addition to the business aspect, Grantaire is even more stingy in terms of life. He clings to his own set of financial "philosophy", is extremely harsh on his own and his family's food and clothing, and is an "iron rooster" like a fake bag. In order to save money, the Grandaire family did not buy vegetables and meat all year round, but was sent by tenants, and the heavier housework was done by the maid, but never paid the servants to match their labor. In the cold winter months, Grande was reluctant to make a fire for warmth, and usually withheld the pocket money of her daughter and wife. Even so, he was often angry that his family was not using the money properly.

There is no doubt that Grande was a typical scrooge, as described in the original text: "Speaking of the skill of financial management... It's a tiger, it's a giant python: he'll lie there, crouch there, look at his captives for half a day, and then pounce on them, open his bloody pockets, and pour them into a pile of gold and silver..." Grantaire's last words before his death were to tell his daughter to guard the property and to come to another world to pay his account to him. To this day, when people meet people who must be compared, people still use the name of "Grande".

The economic base determines the superstructure, and people's living standards are largely constrained by money. After getting money, how to use money is another problem in front of people. Saving money and cutting back on food and clothing in order to save money is not worth the loss, and if you just want to hide every coin and not use it, the person becomes a slave to money, losing the possibility of using money to create happiness.

People who are drunk will be sober, and people who are obsessed with money will never be sober. For the greedy, no amount of money is enough; for the knowledgeable, the money earned with their own industrious hands is enough to feed themselves, and there is no ambition to regard wealth as life.

A gentleman loves money and has a way of getting it. Unscrupulous behavior in order to obtain money is shameful, and it is ridiculous to have money but is reluctant to use it. May all of us not learn from Grande, spend money when it is time to spend money, and do not be a scrooge who loves money as much as his life.