Summary
This novella, The Girl With the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac (translated by Carol Cosman), started of like a movie. The author talked only of Paris and it's people. Here is some points taken from this section of the novella.
- Parisian interested in everything and in the end nothing.
- Only two ages in Paris: youth and decay.
- Talked of the proletarians (working class). Mentions all the hard work, suffering, sweating, low wages they receive all to be wasted away at clubs in the city and prostitutes, drinking, and violence. Happens every Monday, then back to work on Tuesdays.
- Describe the King as hardworking yet lazy. A man of action, not feeling. A living encyclopedia. Never at rest like Paris itself.
- To the wealthy, nothing is real.
- The lawyers, doctors, business man, etc (upper-class) have little heart. Go about life smoothly like it's nothing. Ignorant of everything outside their profession.
- Only the prostitutes and unmoral girls go out frequently. Ladies who preserve their beauty rarely come out and when they do, it is very rare and eye catching.
- In Paris, every passion is resolved into two terms: gold and pleasure.
After the the descriptive setting of Paris, the main character, Henri de Marsay, is introduced. He was home-schooled and by the age of 16, he knew more than a 40 year old. At age 22, he feel finally free and goes out more often. Henri is very handsome and makes many girls stop at there track to glance at him. He has a friend named Paul de Manerville who he is practically using. One day he meets a girl who is different from all girls who falls in love with Henri at first sight; the girl with the golden eyes. He talks about her to Paul and finds out that everyone knows about her and she is wanted by many. The weird thing is that the girl with the golden eyes (as she is referred to in the book) actually shows interest to Henri and indirectly invited him to follow her home. He did not however, but paid Paul and a taxi driver to follow her and get the address. He learns more about her through a postman named Laurent. She's very mysterious and lives in a mansion that is very secured. She has a duenna (a personal chaperon/escorter) who is always by her side and whom Henri and Laurent plans to lock up so he can get to be with her.
Quote
"If this quick glance at the population of Paris has helped you to understand the rarity of a Raphaelesque face and the passionate admiration it must inspire at first sight, the main purpose of our story has been achieved" (Balzac 26).
Reaction
The author spent the first chapter, first 26 pages, talking only about the setting of Paris and it's people. As I was reading it I thought this would be a great article to read for history class. It talks about the proletarians and the bourgeois, the rich and the poor, etc. It also talks about the guillotine and the French coat of arm. I was thinking when will this story start having characters and quotes but now I understood the purpose of the long description. It is to make the reader's mind focused on this set of population before introducing the plot. I thought it was a great way to start because now I have a much better understanding of Paris.
