Eugenie Grandet was written by Balzac. This book demonstrates us a vivid story of a girl whose life is blighted by her father’s hysterical greed. Eugenie’s father is a rich man by doing some disgraced business, and he is money worship that he often left himself in a back room and appreciated money for a long time. Everything in his family is distributed by himself, even a candle or some sugar. He had a servant, who had worked for thirty years, but she never received some presents from Grandet, except an old watch. In addition, he gives his daughter and wife just a little allowance. What’s more, with so much money, he refused to help his bankrupt relative. What a cold blood person! And when the New Year was coming, he asked his daughter to put out all her gold that he gave her before and wanted to admire it routinely. To his surprise, Eugenie had given all of her belonging to her bankrupt cousin. It really annoyed Grandet and after that he put Eugenie up. In order to collect money, he lost human nature to some extent.
Grandet ‘s nature of crazing for money won over his family. Comparing with grandet, Eugenie was so warm-hearted that she not only helped her in-troubled cousin but also did a lot of public welfare events. She considered money as a method for helping others. Eugenie and her father in this book are far different by comparing each other, and through this way, they are much prominent. Although Eugenie was kind, her cousin still gave up her and pursued a nobleman’s daughter for money. The value concept of his cousin, who was self-fish, was far away from hers.
From this book, a phenomenon of money worship comes out. From the Oxford English dictionary, we know that the word “money” has two definitions: 1. Means of payment, especially coins and banknotes, given and accepted in buying and selling Wealth; total value of somebody’s property. However, in modern American society, money doesn’t just mean cash, dollar bills and coins. The United States is becoming a cashless society quickly. Nowadays, checks and credits cards work just as well as “real money”。 This “plastic money” allows a person spending free. But it also gets them into a lot of debts. Just for so many types of “money” and different usages, to some extent, the modern Americans are changing their outlook on money. They make most of Americans think that money is not all, but it is most of all.
Can money buy happiness? Many Americans think so. Americans believe life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness have a certain connection. And what does the pursuit of happiness mean? For many, it means pursuing money. In the United States, not all Americans are rich, but most concern about money. Money is a main part in modern American life. The American’s outlook on money decides on what kind of life they want to have.
As far as I am concerned, we should regard earning money as a method for a better life but not just being infatuated with it. If I were Grandet, I will finance the people who were in trouble within my competence, even not to mention my relatives. And I would work hard to earn enough money to provide a better living condition for my dear families rather than keep them for appreciation. This book satirizes money worship, and I am also against blind pursuing money. In our life, there are many other things that are much more important than money, such as a good hobby, our friends and families and so on. Although sometimes money can bring us authority and some other things we want, it can not always bring us happiness. Money is powerless in some of the field.