Honoré de Balzac’s “Father Goriot” is a novel that centers on the lives of several residents of a Parisian boarding house, with a focus on the tragic figure of Père Goriot, a former merchant who sacrifices everything for his ungrateful daughters. Through the intertwining lives of Goriot and other characters, Balzac paints a vivid picture of the ambition, greed, and social climbing of 19th-century French society. The novel’s exploration of themes like familial loyalty, social mobility, and human selfishness makes it a classic of realism and one of Balzac’s finest works.
