Honoré de Balzac's novel, Le Vieil Homme Goriot, explores themes of love, betrayal and the spirit by following the story of Eugène de Rastignac as he tries to succeed in Paris. As the reader gets to know all of the different characters introduced throughout the novel, one factor comes up several times and determines how the characters interact with each other. This key factor in the book is money. Depending on the financial situation each character is in, it affects how they are treated by those around them. Balzac shows how people can love and cherish money more than others, even if they are related by blood. Money is key to how people treat each other in society, and Balzac emphasizes this time and again through the variety of characters present in his novel. The first time this example appears is in the opening pages of the book. when Balzac presents the pension. Balzac makes it very clear that the house is in a very poor state and so are those who live there, but even those who live in the slums of Paris still judge themselves to the nearest cent: “These seven tenants were the spoiled children of Madame Vauquer . children and she measured the level of care and respect due to each, based on the price they paid, with the precision of an astronomer” (p. 10). It is not difficult to see how quickly Madame Vauquer's personality evolves depending on which resident is speaking to her at any given moment. Someone who pays to live on the first floor of the house gets Madame Vauquer's attention every time he speaks and Madame does her best to make sure they are happy while they reside in her boarding house . When a denizen of his third floor enters the conversation in the middle of a paper......and all that he has witnessed during his adventures, it is as if Rastignac has gained an understanding of what society is. all around and the role money plays on people at all economic levels. The reality of society may not be pretty, but Rastignac has learned from what he has seen and is truly ready to try again to take on the upper class of Paris. People may not want to admit the power they have over how people treat us. another, but in fact, money may have the power to do just that. Those who flaunt their wealth gain the most respect from the majority of society, while everyone else is treated as if they are lesser beings and may be forgotten in comparison to the upper class. Balzac's novel may have been harsh in its truthfulness about the role of money, but it by no means exaggerated the things money could make people do...