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HEIRESS AND MISER,
AS SEEN IN FOUR NOVELS BY BALZAC,

JAMES, ELS-EE Sii‘éfifv‘aflxSfiR, AND

”

iifiLiEN GEE '1'

Thesis for the Degree of M. A.
MlCHiGAN STATE COLLEGE
Mary Giddings Hmd

1954

THESiS

'This is to certify that the
thesis entitled

Heiress and Miser, as Seen in Four
Novels by Balzac, James, Elsie
Singmaster, and Julien Green.

presented by

Mrs. Mary Giddinge Hood
has been accepted towards fulfillment

of the requirements for

Me A. degree in French

1% 994% ADJ

Major professor

Date May 18, 1954-

 

 

 

HEIRESS AND MISER, AS SE37 IN FOUR NOVELS
BY BALZAC, JAMES, ELSIE SINGMASTER,

AND JULIEN GREEN

By
Mary Giddings Hood

A THESIS

Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan
State College of Agriculture and Applied Science
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Foreign Languages

1954

THESI'fi'

 

 

TABLE

Acknowledgement . . . .

Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter

Chapter

I. Introduction

II. Fathers and Daughters

III.

The Heiress in Love

OF CONTENTS

IV. A Legacy for the Heiress

V. Conclusion

Bibliography . . . . .

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20
42
57
62

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The writer wishes to express her most sincere thanks

to Dr. Hermann H. Thornton under whose inspired scholarship,
never failing interest, and constant supervision this study
was undertaken and to whom the results are herewith dedicated.
She would also like to express her gratitude to Dr. Thomas
NcGuire for his many helpful suggestions. The writer deeply
appreciates the financial assistance provided by Michigan
State College for the past year which made it possible for

her to complete this investigation.

CHATTER I. INTRODUCTION

People have always viewed money with mingled esteem
and contempt. At the present tine its attractions and
repulsions are no less significant than in the early nine-
teenth century when economics came to be seriously regarded
as a science. Money is often thought of as evil, or the root
thereof, but financial insolvency is as much to be avoided
as financial success is to be sought. The fascination for
money takes hold of writers as well as readers. The
literature produced therefrom has various themes, but the
struggle to gain financial success is ever present. There
are the "rags to riches" stories, which are almost legendary
in the American culture. There are novels dealing with
class conflict, in which the rich are the eXploiters and the
poor are the eXploited. The theme of greed and covetousness
is recurrent in this type of novel, but it has also been
the primary subject in many other novels.

In this paper the writer has undertaken to present a
critical study of four novels dealing with the theme of

avarice. These are Eugenie Grandet (1853), by Honoré de

 

Balzac; Washington Square (1880), by Henry James; Keller's

 

Anna Ruth (1926), by Elsie Singmaster; and Adrienne Nesurat

 

 

(1927), by Julien Green.

0f the four authors, three were born American citizens.
Henry James, in his later years, became a British citizen,
and Julian Green is now a French citizen. Beginning with
Balzac and the year 1833, the date of Eugenie Grandet, the
span of literary activity of the four authors continues
through the present time. These particular novels may be
considered, critically speaking, as products of the more
successful efforts by each author. In the broad sense of
the word, it can be said that the novels of Balzac, James,
and Elsie Singmaster are "realistic" and that Green's
Adrienne Mesurat is a "psychological" novel. And it would
not be without basis to say that Balzac and James, and
possibly Elsie Singmaster, belong to one era, while Green is
a member of a more recent literary school.

It is curious that these four authors should use the
same plot in framing their novels; for the plots are essen-
tially the same, being concerned with the story of a shrewd
and rich father and his young and guileless daughter who will
inherit a considerable sum of money! There seems to have
been, however, no direct influence of any one author upon
another. James was the author of several essays concerning
Balzac, including The Lesson of Balzac. This essay, in
addition to being a critical evaluation, is a testimony of
James' admiration for Balzac and his debt to him. James is

indebted for style and method rather than for plot material.

This study will attempt a critical investigation of the
father and daughter in each novel to determine whether or
not they have the necessary qualifications in a general con-
cept of miser and heiress. Such a critical examination in-
volves the presentation in some detail of the above-
mentioned novels for the purposes of comparison and contrast,
for it is believed that this particular approach to the
'stated problem is the most suitable method of investigation.
Within each chapter, the texts of the novels are surveyed

in the order of their publication.

CHAPTER II. FATHERS AND DAUGHTERS

Balzac's novel, Eugenie Grandet, is as much the history
of M. Grandet as it is that of his daughter Eugenie. Grandet,
in fact, seems to be the central figure, for the power of
this greedy and wretched character is ever present, even
after his death. Although the novel since the time of Balzac
tends to be more concerned with psychological insight and
analysis, Balzac gives the reader no information that might
in part explain Grandet's avarice, and his almost complete
lack of feeling or sentiment. Grandet apparently has no
reason to resent or dislike either Mme Grandet or Eugenie,
yet he displays nothing that resembles paternal or husbandly
love. He seems rather the same type of cruel overseer one

meets in Mrs. Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin. .Grandet's

 

household consists of his wife, his daughter and Nanon, a
combination cook, laundress, butler and general lackey,
whose duties she shares with Mme Grandet and Eugenie. With
his family, Grandet is close-mouthed; but, he does not main-
tain secrecy with Nanon. It is unlikely, however, that she
comprehends his business. In household matters she is given
as much deference as Mme Grandet or Eugenie. She stands be-
tween Grandet, on the one hand, and Mme Grandet and Eugenie
on the Other. For love of the latter, she would undergo

Grandet's displeasure in order to obtain the ingredients

necessary for a galetts, an unheard-of extravagance which
Eugenie feels is required for her cousin, Charles. Nanon
is also the bulwark that protects the innocent Eugenie and
Mme Grandet from the rest of the world. But, as much as she

loves them, she would give her life because of loyalty to

Grandet.

A l'ags de vingt-dsux ans, 1a pauvre fills n 'avait
pu ss placer chez personne, tant sa figure semblait
repoussante; et certss cs sentiment etait bien
injusts: sa figure eut éte fort admires sur lss
spaulss d' un grenadier de la garde; mais en tout il
faut, dit-on, l'a-propos . . . I1 [Grandet] vetit
alors, chaussa, nourrit la pauvre fills, lui donna
dos gages, et l'employa sans trop la rudoyer. En
se voyant ainsi accusillie, la Grands Nanon pleura
sscrstsmsnt de 3016, st 5 'attacha sincerement au
tonnelier, qui d'aillsurs l'exploita feodalement.
Nanon faisait tout . . . Puis 1a Nanon faisait
partie de la famille: elle riait quand Grandet
riait, s'attristait, gslait, se chauffait, tra-
vaillait avec lui. Combien de doucss compensations
dans cette egalitél 1

It is difficult to ascertain the feelings of Eugenie and

Mme Grandet toward Grandet. After a fashion, Eugenie loves
her father for she is told by the Church that it is her duty
to love him and to obey him. Yet, it is a love never expressed
as she expresses her love for Charles or her mother. Eugenie
and her mother completely submit themselves to the tyrannical
authority of Grandet. Balzac tells us that Grandet "exploits"
poor Nanon; he also exploits his wife.

Quoique ridicule en apparence, cette femme qui, par

sa dot at sea successions, avait apponts au p re

Grandet plus de trois cent mills francs, s 'etait
toujours sentie si profondement humiliee d' une

 

1Balzac, Eugénis Grandet, pp. 293-294.

dependence at dlun ilotisme contrs lequel 1a
douceur ds son ame lui interdisait do as revoltsr,
qu 'slls n 'avait jamais demands un sou, ni fait
uns observation sur lss actss qus maitrs Cruchot
lui presentait a signer, Cstte fisrté sotts st
secrete, cette noblesse d' ame constamment ms-
connue et blesses par Grandet, dominaient la con-
duits ds cette femme . . . Les quatre ou cinq
louis offsrts par le Hollandais ou le Belgs ac-
quersur ds la vendange Grandet formaient ls plus
clair dss rsvenus annuels ds madame Grandet.

Mais, quand elle avait regu ses cinq louis, son
mari lui disait souvsnt, comms si lsur bourss
stait commune: "As-tu quelques sous a me preter?"
st 1a pauvre femme, heureuss ds pouvoir fairs quel-
qus chose pour un homme que son confesssur lui
rspréssntait comms son ssignsur st maitrs, lui
rendait, dans ls courant ds 1' hivsr, quelques

scus sur l'argent dss épingles . . . Grandet se
croyait trss-généreux snvers sa femms.2

Mme Grandet's physical appearance gives the air of being
constantly exploited, that is, she seems so weak and color-
less that one feels that, perhaps, she deserves her treatment:
"uns ds css femmss qui ssmblent faitss pour 8trs tyranniséss."3
Balzac is not generous in portraying this thin and gaunt

woman with her yellow skin, large nose and poor teeth. In
canparison with her mother, Eugenie is beautiful; but it is
difficult to tell whether Balzac intends that she actually

be thought of as beautflhl.

mgsnis appartsnait bien a cs type d' snfants forts-
msnt constitues, comms ils ls sont dans la petite

 

21bid., pp. 299-500.

31bid., p. 299. In the original manuscript, Balzac used
battuss rather than t rannisees: "une ds css femmes qui
ssmblent faitss pour trs battueS." This manuscript, with
the correction clearly indicated, is in the possession of
the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City.

 

bourgeoisie, st dont lss beautes paraisssnt vul-
gaires; mais, si slls ressemblait a Venus ds Nilo,
ses formes staient snnoblies par cette suavits du
sentiment chrétisn qui purifis la femme st lui
donna une distinction inconnus aux sculptsurs an—
cisns . . . Eugenie grands st forts, n 'avait donc
risn du joli qui plait aux masses; mais slls stait
belle ds cette beauts si facile a rsconnaitrs, st
dent s 'sprennsnt ssulemsnt lss artistes. Le psintrs
qui cherchs ici-bas un type a la célssts pureté ds
Marie, qui demands a touts la nature feminine css
ysux modsstsment fiers dsvines par Raphael, css
lignes visrges souvent dues aux hasards ds la con-
csption, mais qu 'uns vie chrétienne st pudique psut
seuls conservsr ou fairs acquérir; cs psintrs,
amoureux.d'un si rare models, out trouvs tout a
coup dans le visage d'Eugenis la noblesse innés qui
s'ignors . . .

Grandst's physical appearance is as repellent as that of

Mme Grandet. He is short, and powerfully built; at the side
of his large nose there is an ugly wen. He always wears the
same clothes. He is neither liked nor disliked with any
degree of passion by the people of Saumur, but he is held in
some esteem, both for his fortune, of which no one has any
positive knowledge, and because he is a figure of authority;
he was once mayor of Saumur. The townspeople know little,
however, of the man or his family beyond what appears on the
surface. Grandst's entire character hinges upon, and is
motivated by, his avarice.i

Financiersmsnt parlant, monsisur Grandet tenait du

tigrs st du boa: il savait ss couchsr, ss blottir,

snvisager long-temps sa prois, sautsr dsssus; puis

il ouvrait 1a gusuls ds sa bourss, y engloutissait

uns charge d'scus, st ss couchait tranquillsmsnt,

comms ls serpent qui digsre, impassibls, froid,
msthodiqus.5

 

Ibido, pp. 335-556.
51bid., p. 283.

Les manieres ds cet homme étaient fort simples

. . .quatre hrases exactss autant que des
formulss alg brigues lui servaient habituellement
a embrasser, a resoudre toutes les difficultes

de la vie et du commerce: ”Je ne sais pas, e ne
puis pas, je ne veux pas, nous verrons cela. Il
ne disait jamis ni oui ni non, at n 'ecrivait
point . . . Cstte figure annongait une finesse
dangereuse, une probité sans chaleur, l'égolsme
d'un homme habitue a concentrsr ses sentiments
dans la jouissancs de l'avarice et sur le seul
etre qui lui fut reellement de quelque chose, sa
fills Eugenie, sa seuls heritiere.6

Because there seems to be a certain amount of sgotism involved
in the trait of avarice, one might expect that Grandet would
be concerned for his own comfort, if not for that of his
family. But he allows himself no more luxury than his house-
hold. The Grandet home is dark and forbidding; the walls are
dirty and the furnishings are inadequate and shabby. Balzac's
description of the house in the opening pages of Eugenie Grandet
presents a scene of gloom and melancholy. In that respect, he
gives the reader a foretaste of the plot.

11 se trouvs dans certaines villes de province dss

maisons dont la vue inspire une mélancblie egale a

cells que provoqusnt lss cloltres les plus sombres,

lss landes les plus ternes ou les ruines les plus

tristss.’7

In this family, the only person who takes pleasure in

existence is Grandet, and his pleasure is in his money. At
the beginning of the novel, Grandet has inherited three estates
from his wife's family and has probably accumulated five or

six million francs from various enterprises. His estate is

 

51bid., pp. 285-286.
71bid., p. 275.

worth seventeen million francs at the end of the novel. This
is by far the largest fortune in each of the stories; but it
is also the least enjoyed. Catherine spends her life in com-
fortable circumstances; Anna Ruth uses her money for herself
and others, and Adrienne's home is not nearly as drab as that
of the Grandets. Eugenie seems never to have used any of her
millions for herself; but the money could not have_made her
happy under any circumstances. She finally comes to believe
as her mother, that happiness is found only in heaven. Mme
Grandet derives some pleasure from her love for Eugenie, with
whom she shares a tender relationship, but, she, nevertheless
longs for heaven, where Grandet‘s actions can no more cause
her mental anguish.

The setting of Washington Square is much less foreboding

 

than that in Eugenie Grandet; it is, in fact, the most pleasant
setting in the four novels. In 1840, Washington Square, in
New York City, was an upper middle class neighborhood. The

time is almost contemporary with Eugenie Grandet, whose action

 

starts in 1819. Keller's Anna Ruth is contemporary in time
scheme, and Adrienne Mesurat takes place shortly after the

turn of the century. Washington Sguare is the only novel

 

which has for its background a large city. Saumur, Middlebury,
and La Tour-l'Evéque seem to be nearly the same size. The .
difference between the two French towns, on the one hand, and
Middlebury, Pennsylvania, is quite marked. The reader is in-
stantly impressed by the drab monotony of both La Tour-l‘Evéque

and Saumur, which are en province. There is not the maze of

10

activity and busy lives which characterizes the pOpular con-
ception of Paris or New York. Even Elsie Singmaster's des-
cription of Middlebury makes it sound like a thriving hub of
activity as compared with Saumur and La Tour—l'Evéque. It is
curious that two such unlike authors as Balzac and Green
should so similarly conceive a Franch provincial town. It
would seem that each small town beyond the limits of Paris is
dreary, monotonous and unattractive. While James does not
give a detailed description of New York City, except for the
neighborhood in which the Slopers reside, the reader does not
hesitate to assume that New York City, even in 1840, was an
exciting place to live. The Sloper home is very large and
comfortable and Washington Square is thought to be "the ideal
of quiet and of genteel retirement."8
In spite of the elaborate furnishings in the Sloper home,

of which Morris Townsend, later, likes to imagine himself the
proud possessor, Dr. Sloper is no spendthrift; neither is he
avaricious.

The fact of his having married a rich woman made no

difference in the line he had traced for himself,

and he cultivated his profession with as definite a

purpose as if he still had no other resources than

his fraction of the modest patrimony which, on his

father's death, he had shared with his brothers and

sisters. This purpose had not been preponderantly

to make money-~it had been rather to learn some-

thing and to do something.9

Dr. Sloper is a man of skill and considerable reputation in

the medical profession as well as in the social world. His

 

8James, Washington Square, p. 23.
91b1d., p. 10.

11

wife had died after the birth of their second child, Catherine;
their first child, a son, had died at the age of three.

She was a healthy, well-grown child, without a

trace of her mother's beauty. She was not ugly;

she had simply a plain, dull, gentle countenance.

The most that had ever been said for her was that

she had a "nice" face; and, though she was an

heiress, no one ever thought of regarding her as

a belle.10
Dr. Sloper's impassive view of his daughter can to some extent
be explained by the fact that his wife died as a result, perhaps
indirect, of childbirth; and that he wishes Catherine to be
exactly like her mother, who had been an extremely pretty and
accomplished woman. He seems unconsciously to resent Catherine,
on account of which she matures under a definite handicap.

He had moments of irritation at having produced a

commonplace child,and he even went so far at times

as to take a certain satisfaction in the thou ht
that his wife had not lived to find her out.1

Dr. Sloper is not, however, so insensible that he is openly
hostile toward Catherine; on the contrary, he tries zealously
to fulfil his paternal duties; Yet, in spite of his efforts,
heseems, at least unconsciously, to reject and dislike his
daughter. Nor does he seem to be particularly fond of his
widowed sister, Mrs. Pennimen, who acts as a quasi-governess
for Catherine. Undoubtedly she does not warrant the Doctor's
esteem for he is a perfectionist, and Mrs. Penniman is a
foolish, middle-aged woman.

Mrs. Penniman was a tall, thin, fair, rather faded
woman, with a perfectly amiable disposition, a

 

16Ibid., p. 16.

111b1d., p. 18.

12

high standard of gentility, a taste for light
literature, and a certain foolish indirectness
and obliquity of character. She was romantic;
she was sentimental; she had a passion for little
mysteries . . . She would have liked to have had
a lover, and to correspond with him under an
assumed name, in letters left at a shop.12

As limited in her perceptions as Catherine seems to be, she

does not fail to distinguish between the abilities<f her

aunt and her father.

To her mind there was nothing of the infinite about
Mrs. Penniman; Catherine saw her all at once, as

it were, and was not dazzled by the apparition;
whereas her father's great faculties seemed, as
they stretched away, to lose themselves in a sort
of luminous vagueness, which indicated, not that

they stopped, but that Catherine's own mind
ceased to follow them.13

Catherine is not ugly, neither is She beautiful. Scho-
lastically, she is not outstanding, nor does she have an
abundance of social graces, although she does play the piano
with a fair degree of aptitude. She seems to be simply an
average young woman, yet she is extremely sensitive.

. . .she was so quiet and irresponsive. People
who expressed themselves roughly called her
stolid. But she was irresponsive because she was
shy, uncomfortably, painfully shy. This was not
always understood, and she sometimes produced an
impression of insensibility. In realit , she

was the softest creature in the world.1

121bid., pp. 15-16.

13Ibid., p. 19.

14Ibid., pp. 19—20.

13

Unlike the other three novels, Keller's Anna Ruth

 

covers a comparatively long period of time. True, the
reader is acquainted with Catherine and Eugenie from young
woman-hood to the period of middle-age; yet, the main action
takes place within a space of five years, while the action in
Adrienne Mesurat covers less than two years. At the beginning
of the story Anna Ruth is a long-limbed adolescent of fourteen
years. She speaks only when necessary, her method of com-
munication being obedience to her father, her friends, and
her teachers. She is her father's most dependable child, the
closeness of the relationship being recognized by the neigh-
bors who refer to her as "Keller's Anna Ruth." There are two
things which sustain Anna Ruth in her struggle to grow up
amidst the squalid poverty in which she lives. One is her
love and need of learning; the other is a sentence which she
often repeats to herself, counting her blessings as it were:
"I have my father and mother and sister and brother and Miss
Harriet and Arthur." Anna Ruth becomes destitute of even
this wealth as the years pass.

Of the families under discussion, the Keller family is
the largest, for Anna Ruth has an older brother, Roger, and
an older sister, Juliet. Roger, who dislikes school, is merely
marking time until he can drop out and go to work for Mr.
Holland, a man of considerable power and of questionable repu-
tation. Juliet, who helps her father in the Keller grocery
store, is a silent and preoccupied young woman who regularly,

but not openly, attends mass at a nearby Catholic Church. She

14

bears some little similarity to Germaine, Adrienne's sister,
for they both escape to the serenity of convent life; Juliet,
however, does so as soon as she is twenty-one, in order to
become a nun, while Germaine endures her father's tyranny
until she is nearly forty and then retires to a convent in
order to be taken care of in her ill-health. This event in
each case is of such proportions as to disrupt, for seme time,
the dull routine of the family. Anna Ruth's mother elicits
the immediate sympathy of the reader, for she is broken in
spirit and poor in body.

The daughter of a country minister, she had never

felt at home in town, and there were times when

all her family seemed strange to her: her husband

who was so different from her lover . . . She

believed that marriage was wrong and that all the

shifts and devices of store-keeping were wrong,

especially Sabbath-breaking, and that she was lost

because she had entered into the one and was

afraid to denounce the other. When on Sunday after-

noon she opened her Bible, she was appalled by her

wickedness until sleep mercifully dulled her min

and she forgot for a while her deepening terror. 5
Where religion seems to be a sustaining influence for Mme
Grandet, it seems to have the opposite effect on Mrs. Keller.
As the plot develops, she becomes increasingly unaware of her
environs and more subject to mental depression and thoughts
of a morbid nature. Her release from corporal existence is,
oddly enough, because of her husband who seems so unfriendly
to her. The Keller home is heated by a coal stove which,

contrary to the custom at the Grandets', is constantly going.

 

IsSingmaster, Keller's Anna Ruth, pp. 12-13.

15

The stove—pipe which Keller neglects to have replaced,
because of the expense involved, has a break that permits

the escape of coal gas.16 Because Keller keeps his windows
and doors tightly locked, there is no ventilation; the effect
is deadly to Mrs. Keller, whose health is very frail, as it
is later to Keller, himself. Keller's first thoughts after
his wife's death are not of her or of his motherlsss children,
but of the frightful extravagance involved in a funeral. The
calamity for Anna Ruth is that her mother is dead; for her
father, it is the expenditure of one hundred dollars, a vast
sum compared to the amount he never Spends to have his teeth
fixed, and for which he endures endless torture.

Keller's physical appearance belies his character; he is
thin and bald. "The flattening and widening of his mouth under
an outstanding red mustache gave him an expression of unlimited
benevolence; no one could doubt that he did his best for his
family."17 He has in common with Grandet the fear that his
property, no matter what and how valueless, is the constant
object of thieves; he keeps every scrap of paper, each rotting

vegetable under lock and key. The shrewdness and avarice of

 

16The manner in which Mrs. Keller, and later Keller him-
self, died may recall the death of Emile Zola. Zola was also
asphyxiated by coal gas which filled the room where he and
his wife were sleeping. In this instance, however, the cause
was a blocked chimney rather than a faulty stove-pipe. Zola,
too, always locked the doors and windows before retiring!

lebide, pp. 10-110

16

his character are best shown when he eXplains to Anna Ruth
how he operates his grocery business.—

'You can make money in the store business,
Anna Roos; that is, you can make enough not to
starve. But you must watch out, Anna R003, and
you must be smart. You must keep a poor-looking
business, in the first place, plain and not
fancy. If you keep a fancy store, you must send
things home and that eats up profits. If you keep
a fancy store, you must wrap things up nice and
that too eats up profits.

'You can't carry much green goods and make
money. Green goods spoils too fast on you. You
lose a banana here and a half a head of cabbage
there, and you can't eat things fast enough when
they once begin to spoil.

'You must buy large, Anna R003, and sell
small, that's the great thing. A little at a
time, sold at a good price. Poor peOpls can't
buy much; it's with them that you have your
chance. You can add a penny here and a penny
there and nobody will know any better. Pennies
in time make nickels and nickels make dimes and
dimes dollars; never forget that, Anna Roos,
while you live. And always an.evsn.sum for a
half-pound. If prunes are twenty-five cents,
you ask thirteen or fourteen, because you have to
handle a pound twice. That's only fair.18

That Keller confides in Anna Ruth these secrets strenghtens
her conviction that the world is a hard place in which to live,
that poverty is dreadful. She resolves to work harder and to
save more money in order that she may give it to her father.

Adrienne, like Anna duth, is discontented with the cir-
cumstances in which she lives, a discontentment that is not
evident in the character of Eugenie or Catherine. However,
unlike Anna Ruth, Adrienne is not willing to make the best of
her situation.

Cependant, sous les dehors d'une existence uni-
forms, Adrienne cachait une inquiétude dont on

 

181bid., pp. 217-218.

17

l'eut difficilement soupponnée; on l'avait rendue
sournoise, en effet, et elle présentait aux re-
gards de son pere et de sa soeur un visage ou ils
eussent ete incapables de lire la moindre emotion,
en admettant qu 'ils 3' en fussent donné la peine.
Le soir, dans la solitude de sa chambre, le jour
dans ses promenades, elle menait des pensees

qu 'elle n eut avouées a personne et dont elle-
meme éprouvait une sorts de gene. Nais que de
precautions ne faut-il pas pour penétrer dans
l'orgueilleuse timidité de ces ames qui se re-
plient sur elles-memes et repoussent le monde, et
de quels mots Adrienne se serait-slle servie pour
parler de ses sentiments? Il est probable que ce
terme de sentiment lui sut sembls bizarre, et son
souvenir nevlul présentait que des images ou ne
ss melaient ni tristesse, ni joie, mais dont la
force etait si grands lgu slles l'empechaient de
penser a autrs chose.1

Except for the constant frown upon her face, Adrienne is a
handsome young woman of eighteen, with black hair and full
lips. There is a marked contrast between Adrienne and her
older sister, Germaine, whose hollow cheeks and stooped body
bear witness to years of suffering. Adrienne despises
Germaine because she is weak and sick. Her morbid fear of
any physical illness and her fear of any contamination in-
dicate Adrienne‘s lack of healthful attitudes and mental sta-
bility. The two sisters live in a comfortable but ugly house
with their father, the mother having died some years before
and seemingly not regretted. The pattern of daily living,
dictated by Mesurat, is rigidly maintained. Any deviation is
looked upon with suspicion and anger. This adherence to rou-
tine is the chief source of pleasure for Mssurat.

Assurement, il était heureux: sa vie était dss
plus simples, mais elle stait faite d' habitudes

 

Green, Adrienne Mesurat, p. 23.

18

qu‘il avait prises lss unes apres les autres,

comms on choisit des fleurs, dss caillous rares

au cours d' une longue promenade, et 11 les

chérissait de tout son coeur. Le tour quoti-

dien a travers la ville, l'arrivee des journaux

du soir, l'heure dss repas, autant de moments

agréables pour cet homme qui semblait ne jamais

devoir quittsr ce monde, tant il mettait de joie

et d' energie a y tenir sa place . . . 11 n 'aimait

pas ce qui sortait de l'ordinaire.20
Mesurat, like Grandet, is a short, thick-set man with a big
chest that he is fond of thumping with his fist as though to
display its solidity. He had been a teacher in Paris until he
won some money in a lottery, which enabled him to retire some
years earlier than would otherwise have been possible. Al-
though enforcing and exacting obedience from his daughters,
beyond the protection of his home Mesurat is an extremely shy
creature, his only acquaintance being the station-agent at
the depot of La Tour—l'Evéque, from whom Mesurat buys the daily
paper. Visitors at the Nesurats‘ are rare; in the past there
were a few young men who called because they were interested
in Adrienne. But because of her indifference and the hostility
of Mesurat, their visits have ceased entirely.

Both Adrienne and Germaine fear the tyranny of their father,
but in different ways. Nesurat will not admit that Germaine is
ill, and he forces her to leave her bed in order to convince
himself that she is well, and so that she does not interrupt

the daily routine. While she is able to scorn Germaine's weak

efforts to dominate her, Adrienne hates her father because he

 

20Ibid., p. 15.

19

is physically able to control her.

Depuis quelques jours, elle avait senti se glisser
dans son coeur un sentiment qu 'elle n 'avait jamais
connu Jusque- -la et qui l' avait choquée d‘ abord

pour lui donner ensuite une sorte de joie secrete:
elle méprisait son pere. Pendant des annees elle
l'avait reSpecté, peut-etrs meme pensait- elle
l'avoir aims de cet amour sans feu que l'on distri-
bue en parts égales aux divers membres de sa famille,
mais, a partir du jour ou il l‘avait secouee pour
la contraindre a jouer aux cartes, elle avait re-
connu que la crainte seule formait le fond de son
respect, et que l‘amour filial n'y jouait aucun
r61e. Maintenant encore elle 1e craignait; elle
redoutait la force de ce poignet velu et css

doigts cruels qui laissaient des traces rouges sur
ses bras msurtris, et tout a 1' heure son coeur
battait fort lorsque le vieillard lui avait

saisi la main pour la broyer dans la sienne.21

Germaine finally decides that she must leave and, with
Adrienne's help, is able to escape to a convent where she will
be cared for. As much as Adrienne dislikes Germaine, on this
occasion she is willing to conspire with her against Mesurat,
for she wants to have Germaine's room. It is characteristic

of Adrienne that she will go to any length to possess or to

accomplish what she wants.

 

211bid., p. 79.

CHAPTER III. THE HEIRESS IN LOVE

The principal event common to these four novels is the
love affair of the heiress. "Love affair" is perhaps not the
most applicable expression in the case of Adrienne, for such
a term implies some degree of reciprocity. Adrienne is in-
fatuated with Dr. Naurecourt, but his interest in her is
purely professional. The love between Anna Ruth and Arthur,
is a thing that develops from childhood, whereas Eugenie and
Catherine quite suddenly and rather unexpectedly fall in love
when they are bothyoung women, at a time when one normally
expects that a young woman will have had at least one or two

romantic attachments. Thus, Keller's Anna Ruth might with

 

some basis be termed a "love story," a title which the writer
does not believe is wholly justifiable for Eugenie Grandet,
Washington Square, or Adrienne Nesurat, especially since one
is apt to expect that a love story should "end happily."

In the preceding chapter the writer has shown how barren
and routine is the life of the Grandets; one can well imagine
then the grand impression which Charles makes upon Eugenie
when he arrives from Paris.

Dans 1a pure et monotone vie dss jeunes filles, il
vient une heure délicieupe ou le soleil leur épanche
ses rayons dans l'ame, ou la fleur leur exprime des
pensees, ou les palpitations du coeur communiquent
au,cerveau leur chaude fscondance, et fondent lss

idees en un vague desir; jour d' innocents mélancolie
et de suaves joyeusetes. Quand lss snfants commencent

21

a voir, ils sourient; quand une fills entrevoit

ls sentiment dans la nature, elle sourit comms elle
souriait enfant. Si la lumiere est le premier
amour de la vie, l'amour n 'est-il pas la lumiere

du coeur? Le moment de voir clair aux choses
d'ici-bas stait arrive pour Eugenie. 22

Eugénie does not entirely lack masculine friends, for she has
two other suitors. These are Adolphe des Grassins and the
nephew of Father Cruchot, M. de Bonfons, who with their
respective families pay court to the Grandet household. When
one ccmpares Charles to Adolphe or M. de Bonfons, whose linen
is always yellow and grimy with age, and who, living en pro-
gingg, do not dress in the Parisian manner, Eugénie's
immediate interest in Charles is an inevitable conclusion.
But Adolphe and M. de Bonfons do not feel it necessary to
impress either Eugenie or Grandet with their appearance as
Charles does for, if they did, they know that Grandet would
consider them utter fools. Charles has never met his uncle,
however, and he assumes that his home and his attitudes will
be much the same as those of his father, Victor Grandet.
Before his arrival in Saumur, Charles determines to make a
grand entrance at the "country estate" of his uncle and
dresses accordingly.

Charles emporta done 18 plus 3011 costume de chases,

le plus $011 fusil, le plus joli couteau, la plus

Jolie ga ne de Paris. Il emporta sa collection de

gilets les plus ingenieux: 11 y en avait de gris,
de blancs, de noirs, de couleur scarabée, a reflets

d'or, de pailletés, de chines, de doubles, a chale

 

zzBalzac, op. cit., p. 352.

22

on droits de col, a col renversé, de boutonnes
Jusqu' en haut, a boutons d'or. Il emporta toutes
les variétes de cols et de cravatss en faveur a
cette epoqus. Il emporta deux habits de Buisson
et son linge le plus fin. Il emporta sa jolie
toilette d or, present de as mere . . .2:5

Charles is somewhat characterized by his desire to impress;
yet he is only twenty-two and perhaps for that reason is to

be forgiven his vanity. Also, he has been accustomed to all
the luxury and importance that money can buy. In addition to
Charles' elegant appearance, there is another thing that makes
him more attractive to Eugenie. Grandet informs him that he
must go to the Indies and make his fortune, for his father,
who has committed suicide, has left him penniless. The re-
action to this news on the part of Eugenie, Mme Grandet, and
Charles is similar and spontaneous. They grieve for the death
of Victor; and the loss of fortune, for the present time, re-
mains secondary. Charles is deeply touched by the sincere and
sympathetic emotion of Eugenie for him. She is likewise
touched by the fact that Charles weeps for his father. How
different from Grandet, or the Cruchots or the Des Grassins
for that matter, who never expressed anything akin to sym-
pathetic emotionl Charles‘ appearance and actions may suggest
to the American reader that he is effeminate, but he conforms
to the dictates of the society (that is, Parisian society) in
which he moves, this being a sufficient motivation in any age

or culture. It is also apparent that anyone less gentle

 

251mm, p. 312. __

23

would offend Eugénie's innocence and honor. Thus, the
situation is exactly at the point where Eugenie could not do
otherwise than fall completely in love with Charles. Except
for the omnipresencs of Grandet, one feels that the fate of
Eugenie might have been happy after all.
For the first time in the life of Eugenie we see a
development of character. "11 lui avait plus surgi d'idees
en un quart d'heure qu'elle n'en avait eu depuis qu'elle
etait au monde."24 This is not to say that Eugenie is dull,
but Grandet has been so completely the authority figure in
her life that she has had no need nor desire to think for her-
self.' Nor has there been a like intrusion upon the daily
pattern dictated by Grandet. It is inevitable that a conflict
should arise between Eugenie and her father. The full force
of her character develOpment is apparent when Grandet dis-
covers that Eugénie has given her birthday savings to Charles
in order that he may buy the stock he needs for his voyage
to the Indies. This discovery is not made, of course, until
scme time after Charles' departure. Eugenie, on this occasion,
displays with vigor and determination her sharpened intellect.
"Non pere, si vous me faitss dss presents dont je
ne sois pas entierement maitresse, reprsnez- -les
Mon pere, je vous aims st vous respects, malgre
votre colere; mais je vous ferai fort humblement
observer que j' ai vingt-deux ans. Vous m' avez

assez souvent dit que je suis majeure, pour que
je le sache . . ." Eugenie, devenue aussi ruses

 

241b1d., p. 516.

24

par amour que son pere 1' stait Zgar avarice,
reitéra le meme signs de tete.2

Grandet is furious at her stand and locks her in her room to
exist on a diet of bread and water. 1

Il regarda sa fills qui restait muette et froide.

--Elle ne bougera pas, elle ne sourcillera pas,

elle est plus Grandet que Je ne suis Grandet. 25
The American reader may view with disbelief the fact that an
obviously intelligent young woman of twenty-tw027 would sub-
mit to her father in silence and with such meekness after a
strong display of reason and determination; but one must

remember that Eugenie is an extremely devout Catholic.

Grandet is not adverse to exhortation of Catholic dogma when

 

251b1d., pp. 451-452.

261bid., p. 454.

27There is some question about Eugenie' s age. In the

opening pages of the story, Eugénie' 3 age is given as twenty-
three. Grandet says, "Elle a vingt- -trois ans aujourd' hui,
l'enfant, il faudra bient6t s‘ occuper d' elle." Eugenie
Grandet, p. 299. Yet, Eugenie says two months later on New
Year's Day that she is twenty- two, as previously cited.

There is a similar discrepancy in Washington Sq_are.
Catherine is not yet twenty- -one at the beginning of the
novel. ". . .our heroine was twenty years old before she
treated herself, for evening wear, to a red satin gown
trimmed with gold fringe . . . The girl was at this time

in her twenty-first year. . ." Washington Square, p. 22.
However, she is later said to be twenty-two when there

could not be more than a two-week interval between the

time of the first citation and the second. ". . .Catherine,
at the age of twenty- two, was, after all, a rather mature
blossom. . ." Ibid., p. 55.

 

 

 

25

it suits his purpose, the only occasion of his participation
in any sort of religion.
Eugenie, vous etes chez moi, chez votre pere.

Vous dsvez, pour y rsster, vous soumsttre a ses
ordres. Les prétrss vous ordonnent de m 'obeir.28

She must therefore accept the dictate of her father, and
her sols consolation is the memory of Charles.

The writer does not hesitate to say that Charles was
sincerely, if only momentarily, in love with Eugenie. Sym-
pathy and understanding are often counterparts of love, and
it is these two things which Charles finds in her. It is
true that he has had a clandestine romance--one that the
writer assumes would ordinarily cause a woman of Eugénis's
temperament at least to blush if not to become righteously
indignant at the immorality and sordidness of adulterous love.
But it seems that, for a short time, Eugenis's love cleanses
and purifies the character of Charles.

L'enfancs st l'amour fursnt meme chose entre
Eugenie et Charles: cs fut la passion premiers
avec tous ses snfantillagss, d‘ autant plus
caressants pour leurs coeurs qu 'ils étaient
snveloppes de melancolie . . . En echangeant
quelques mots avec sa cousins au bord du puits,
dans cette cour muette; en rsstant dans ce

Jardinet, assis sur un banc moussu jusqu' a

l'heure ou le soleil se couchait, occupes a

se dire de grands riens ou rscueillis dans 1e

calms qui régnait entre ls rempart et la

maison, ccmme on 1' est sous les arcades d' une
eglise, Charles comprit la saintste de l'amour . . .29

 

2—8—1de .

2
9Ibid., p. 409.

26

One wonders whether Charles and Eugenie would have been happy
if they had been able to marry. It is possible that Charles
under the gentle and kindly influence of Eugenie would in time
have conformed to the lofty vision Which she held of ham.

On the other hand, perhaps he would soon have tired of the
simple Eugenie, and once again desired the glitter and gilt
of Parisian society. It cannot be dsniedthat this love
affected the entire life of Eugenie, who out of devotion to
Charles remains chaste to her death, although she finally
marries M. de Bonfons.

Catherine Sloper, at first glance, has the same sort of
lover as Eugenie. On closer examination this does not seem
to be true, though the situation resulting in the romance is
very similar. Catherine has, at the age of twenty-one, spent
an uneventful life and become quite an ordinary woman. One
might expect, then, that her first meeting with Morris
Townsend would produce the same effect that Eugenie feels
when she meets Charles. At times, Catherine seems to be
completely void of any sensibility, a fact of which her father
is firmly convinced. Morris does not dazzle Catherine, al-
though throughout their first encounter she becomes more im-
pressed by his manner and appearance.

He had features like young men in pictures;

Catherine had never seen such features--so
delicate, so chiselled and finished--among

27

the New Yorkers whom she passed in the streets
and met at dancing-parties.30

Catherine has never "had" a young man and for this reason
can not help but have more than a passing interest in Morris.
Dr. Sloper does not curb her activities and acquaintances
as Grandet does those of Eugenie. But, whereas Grandet fully
intends that Eugenie shall one day marry (he Speaks of it on
her twenty-third birthday), Dr. Sloper holds his daughter in
such poor esteem that the reader has no doubt regarding the
fate of Catherine. It is as if he were constantly taunting
her with: "You will never get married! Who would have you?"
It is definitely a question of money that prohibits
Morris, in Dr. Sloper's opinion, from being a suitable match
for Catherine. Grandet assuredly discounts Charles as a
possible husband for lack of fortune, yet the writer believes
his primary objection has to do with his own relationship
with his brother Victor, Charles' father, the details of
which remain unknown to the reader. Morris, because he has
squandered a small fortune and is living upon his sister,
can not be considered as eligible. On the other hand, it is
true that in every other respect Catherine's father would
consider him worthy of her attention. Morris is handsome,
intelligent, clever, polished, in short, all those things

which Dr. Sloper must have been as a young man. The writer

 

E03amss, op. cit., p. 29.

28

suggests that perhaps part of the antagonism which exists
between the two men, father and suitor, arises from their
similarity. Furthermore, it seems to be this similarity that
gives impetus to Catherine's affection for Morris. The differ-
ence here, however, is that Morris displays his love for
Catherine, which her father does not. It is likely that if
her father were genuinely fond of her, she would be more
perceptive as far as Morris' intentions are concerned. As it
is, she reciprocates his attention by falling in love with him,
although, at first, quite passively it is true; she patiently
waits for whatever may befall her, including Morris‘ love.

. . .she regarded it, very naturally, as a price-

less trsasure. It may even be doubted whether she

had ever definitely expected to possess it, and

she had never said to herself that at a given

moment it must come . . . she was not eager and

exacting; she took what was given her from day to

day . . .3
Catherine's passivity in this romance seems to stem from the
fact that, because she knows her father disapproves of Morris,
she tries to assuage her sense of guilt by remaining non-
aggressive. That is, she will not encourage Morris by any
of the words or actions that lovers ordinarily use; however,
after their engagement is an accomplished fact, it is
Catherine who is resolute. She tells Morris she wishes to be

married immediately, knowing that she will be disinherited if

she marries him. Morris of course hesitates, for he sees the

 

311b1d., p. 76.

29

folly of this hasty move; he still hopes that Dr. Slepsr may
give his consent in time, and that he will have a rich wife.
He does not appreciate nor fathom the morality which directs
Catherine to believe that immediate marriage is of the utmost
necessity. It is her moral sense, not her fear of becoming
an old maid, that induces this conclusion on Catherine's part.

The poor girl had an admirable sense of honor,
and from the moment she had brought herself to
the point of violating her father's wish, it
seemed to her that she had no right to enjoy
his protection. It was on her conscience that
she ought to live under his roof only so long
as she conformed to his wisdom. There was a
great deal of glory in such a position, but poor
Catherine felt that she had forfeited her claim
to it. She had cast her lot with a young man
against whom he had solemnly warned her, and
broken the contract under which he provided

her with a happy home. She could not give up
the young man, so she must leave the home; and
the sooner the object of her preference offered
her another, the sooner her situation would
lose its awkward twist.52

Though neither she nor her father are particularly devout,
in the religious sense, they are both bound by Victorian
morality: it is the duty of the child to obey its parents,
and is is the duty of the parents to exact this obedience.

Dr. SIOpsr has impressed upon Catherine the fact that she
must be a good daughter; his reason being, no doubt, that if
she is unattractive and lacking in social graces, she ought
at least to be a dutiful daughter. She sincerely believes
this, as she sincerely believes the vows and promises of

Morris. Eugenie swears to be faithful to Charles, to wait

 

321mm, p. 165.

for him, though it may be for ever. Her father tells her she
is morally obligated to obey him; however, he does not demand
obedience in the choice of husbands, but rather that she
should obey him and tell him What she has done with her money.
Eugenie has no remorse as far as her love for Charles is con-
cernsd, and Grandet never expressly forbids her to marry
Charles, although he does say to Cruchot,

He! bien, mon vieux camarade, je serai franc,

et je vous dirai ce que vous voulsz savoir.

J'aimerais mieux, voyez-voux, jeter ma fills
dans la Loire que de la donnsr a son cousin.55

The point of religious sentiment or moral duty is almost
ccmplstely lacking in Keller‘s Anna Ruth and Adrienne Mesurat.
Neither Anna Ruth nor Adrienne feels particularly motivated
or obligated by any special moral code, though Adrienne does
violate what her father considers her filial duty; there is
no moral conflict between Anna Ruth and her father.

' There is no doubt about the sincerity or depth of
Catherine's love for Morris; on the other hand, there is no
doubt about the dishonesty of his intentions. "Her faith in
his sincerity was so complete that she was incapable of sus-
pecting that he was playing with her . . ."54 Morris com-
pletely dsceives Catherine concerning.his motives for wishing
to marry her.‘ The blow, then, is doubly cruel When he breaks

his engagement to her. Up to this particular point in the

 

szalzac, o . cit., p. 342.
54

James, op. cit., p. 163.

51

story, in spite of his motives, there is some reason to
admire Morris‘ boldness and cleverness. The reader might
feel as Dr. Sloper does when he says,

He has ability . . . decided ability; he has a very

good head if he chooses to use it. And he is un-

commonly well turned out . . . He has the assurance

of the devil himself! . .'. I don't think I ever

saw such assurance. And his powers of invention

are most remarkable.35
In trying to break his engagement with Catherine, Norris
fails to display his usual adroitness; he seems nothing more
than a base coward and certainly a scoundrel. He is finally
reduced to writing Catherine a letter that concludes their
relationship.

The development of the love interest in Keller's Anna

 

3252.13 quite different from the other three novels. Whether
or nd: Elsie Singmaster is too conventional in her treatment
is rather beside the point, but she does develop a childhood
friendship into a presumably idealistic marriage. It can be
assumed that Anna Ruth has known Arthur for some time and that
her fondness for him has gradually developed. For this reason
there is no negative reaction on the part of Keller toward
Arthur, a reaction which is depicted by the other three authors.
In fact, it seems that Keller is scarcely aware of Arthur's
existence until he intercepts a letter Arthur has written to
Anna Ruth. On this occasion, Keller responds in much the same

way as Grandet and Dr. SlOpsr do, in that he at once senses

sslbid e , pp. 54-55 0

52

a dangerous threat to himself.

He began to read; it was a long letter, partly
.descriptive and partly ardently affectionate . . .
His astonishment and fright kept him from doing
anything in an orderly way. He read the last
sheet, the middle, then the first. 'My darling
Anna Ruth,‘ indeed! Anna Ruth was his Anna Ruth.
If she was gone, who would cook his meals? Who
would clerk in the store without salary? Who
would help him fend off starvation? He would
have to read the letter several times before he

was sure that this outrageous proposition could
be made in sincerity.

Keller seems concerned only for his immediate welfare, not
for his fortune. Undoubtedly, the fact that Keller has
accumulated one hundred thousand dollars at the time of his
death may seem as much a surprise to the reader as to Anna
Ruth. It can not definitely be said that Keller regards
Arthur as a fortune seeker, since he is unaware of Ksller's
wealth. Rather, Keller thinks of him as an obstacle to the
increase of his fortune, for Anna Ruth is indirectly a source
of income.

Ignorance of Keller's money is a definite factor in the
consideration of the love Arthur and Anna Ruth bear each other.
Arthur, of course, has no designs upon the Keller estate; he
is like Charles in this respect, for Charles is not aware of
Grandet's fortune until Eugenie pays the final claims on his
father's estate. But Charles is most concerned about winning
a fortune. Arthur's main concern is for Anna Ruth herself.

He admires her earnest efforts to go to school, to study and

 

“—36 ' ;
Singmaster, Op. cit., p. 178.

53

to learn. He appreciates her interest in him and his work.
He is not, like Charles and Morris, a striking or impressive
person, although he can not be classified as average.

He was tall, with black hair, a wide sensitive
mouth, and gray eyes . . . large, set far apart,
and subject to change like the sea, theeyes of

an adventurer or mystic who looks beyond the

field of other men' s vision. Sometimes his gaze
expressed pain and fear, as though he stood on the
brink of an abyss into which he was afraid to

look . . . he had two passions, one for the starry
sky . . . the other for South America . . .5

It appears that Elsie Singmaster has described a young man

who can be understood and appreciated by only such persons as
Anna Ruth or Miss Harriet, who adored him "as his mother should
have adored him.":58 Part of Anna Ruth's love for Arthur seems
to be the result of sympathy, much the same sort of thing
Eugenie feels for the orphaned Charles.

. . . where was Arthur Wynne? She felt acutely
anxious, as a mother might feel about her child . . .
As she went she heard a strange sound . . . she
knew that it was a human being crying. . . . Be-
side her [Miss Harriet] sat Arthur, and it was from
his tortured throat that the dreadful sounds burst
so uncontrollably. . . . Physically, Anna Ruth
was all eyes, mentally all curiosity and astonish-
ment and concern and torturing jealousy. .

Anna Ruth clasped her hands-~if she could only
speak one word to him in comfort, if she could

only know what his trouble was, if she could only
have one look for herself‘59

 

""'TPT
Ibid., p. 16.

381bid.

59
Ibid., pp. 62-65.

 

54

Arthur, too, weeps for his family since, although he is not
literally orphaned, his mother has abandoned him to marry
Mr. Holland.

In her idealization of Arthur, Anna Ruth has a quality
in common with the other heiresses. In each of the stories,
the heiress maintains a lofty conception of the man with whom
she is in love, a conception so lofty as to be entirely be-
yond the limits of reason. Anna Ruth fearfully expects that
Arthur will reject her even as she is on her way to marry him,
for she feels that she is nothing. She would, in fact, be
content to spend her life gaming at him. It is this lofty
ccnception that makes the rupture in the romance so difficult
for Eugenie and Catherine to bear. No doubt, the rupture is
viewed empathetically by the reader, who will perhaps wish
that they might have shared some of Anna Ruth's happiness,
unless he becomes impatient with them for being blindly ideal-
istic. On the other hand, the reader must admire the evident
consistency displayed by Anna Ruth as well as Catherine,
Eugenie, and Adrienne, although it may seem an obsession. It
is a curious thing, that while Eugenie, Catherine, Anna Ruth,
and Adrienne all incur a good deal of unjust suffering in the
course of their love affairs, Anna Ruth is the only one who
suffers physically as well as mentally; yet, she seems much
more resigned to her mental suffering than the others, and
it is therefore less apparent to the reader. Or, perhaps, it
is that her physical surroundings and her long illness com-

pletely overshadow her mental agonies. But, scarcely any of

35

the suffering seems apparent to the men, accept Dr. Maurscourt,
who is, of course, professionally concerned in Adrienne's
case. The writer, however, can net doubt that Arthur would
be concerned if he knew of her illness, for he writes while
he is in Peru many letters to Anna Ruth, all of which are
intercepted by her father. There is another obstructive ele-
ment in the course of Anna Ruth's romance which is not present
in the others, in the person of Miss Harriet, who does not
consider a Keller worthy of the affections of Arthur Wynne.
She would like to have been Arthur's mother and is as possess-
ive regarding Arthur as Mrs. Penniman is about Morris.

She expected distinction for him; some day,

spurning Middlebury, he would astonish the world,
and the credit would be in large measure hers."-’tO

For herself, she [Mrs. Penniman] felt as if she

were Morris 3 mother or sister-~a mother or

sister of an emotional temperament--and she had

an absorbin desire to make him comfortable

and happy.4
It is only toward the end of the novel that she very reser-
vedly accepts Anna Ruth as Arthur's beloved. In all fairness
to Miss Harriet it must be admitted that it is she who instills
in both Anna Ruth and Arthur a thirst for knowledge. On the
other hand, it can be said that Arthur is not an obstacle in
the course of love as are Charles, Morris, and even Dr. Maure-

court. They are the major obstacles in that they do not re-

turn the love proffered them.

 

4°Ibid.

41James, 0p. cit., p. 202.

56

Thus far in discussing the romantic phases of Eugenie

Grandet, Washington Square, and Keller's Anna Ruth, the writer

 

 

has presented three similar love stories with one major
difference. Eugenie, Catherine, and Anna Ruth fall in love
once; only Anna Ruth's love is honestly returned, and she lives
"happily ever after" with Arthur. Adrienne's first love is
also her only love, but the similarity to the other romances
seems to end at that point. Adrienne falls in love, rather
violently as everything she does is violent, with the local
doctor who casually nods to her from a passing carriage. But
the event makes a deep impression upon her. It is the hope
for something, anything better that causes Adrienne to re-
examine from every possible angle this very minor event. .
Every bit of information about the doctor is gleaned with an
avid curiosity and delight. Dr. Maurecourt himself is an
insignificant person, a thing that can not be said of Charles,
Morris, or Arthur. The reader, in fact, knows as little of
him as Adrienne does. Dr. Maurecourt is not an impressive
figure; he is middle-aged and pale, rather slight, a widower
with one son. He never accept invitations, declining them in
favor of his practice, which is necessarily limited by the
size of La Tour-lisvéque. He lives in a small white house
near the Mesurats. How could Adrienne possibly be in love
with, or even infatuated by, such a person, sepscially when
she knows little more of him than his name?

Ce souvenir avait laissé uns impression tree

forte dans l'esprit d'Adrienne, un peu comms un
revs que l'on oublie difficilement a cause de son

57

caractere singulier, at c 'stait en effet a une
espece de reve éveills que cette promenade lui
faisait songsr. Lorsqu‘ elle avait quitte la
route pour se placer dans l' herbs, elle avait eu
la certitude que cette minute stait importante
et qu 'elle y penserait beaucoup par la suite.
Mais n 'sst- -ce pas la le fait de toutes les per-
sonnes a qui la vie ne donne risn et qui mettent
dans l'avsnir immediat un fol st superstitieux
espoir? Combien de fois n 'avait-elle pas en la
meme certitude? Combien de detenus n' ont- ils
pas frémi d'inquietude joyeuse aux tours de

clef quotidiens?42

But, in the hope of seeing Dr. Maurecourt again, or in the
hope that something might happen, Adrienne develops the habit
of walking near the Doctor's home every evening, a habit which
is very soon interrupted by her father and Germaine, who de-
mand to know what it is she does every evening and with whom.
Mesurat raves at his daughter in the same manner as Grandet
when he insists on knowing what Eugenie has done with her
money. Adrienne is then confined in.much the same way as
Eugenie.

"Tu tiens a savoir pourquoi? . . . Je vais te
ls dire, continua M. Mesurat avec lentsur, mais
en elevant le ton pen a peu. "Je ne veux pas
que tu ailles au jardin, je ne veux pas que tu
sortes de cette maison tant que tu ne m'auras
pas dit le nom de cet homme, tu m 'sntends,
Adrienne?" Elle fit, "Oui, ' d' une voix a peine
perceptible. Une faiblesse dans les genoux la
contraignit de se rstenir a la boiserie qu 'slle
sentait sous ses mains, pour ns pas tomber.
"Parfait," dit 1e vieillard. "Va t'occuper de
la maison." Il sortit at s 'installa ds nouveau
dans son fauteuil.43

 

42Green, op. cit., pp. 24-25.

431pm” p. 56.

58'

One feels that Adrienne is as unjustly punished as Eugenie
is, particularly when Germaine and Mesurat have accused her
of illicit and clandestine conduct. This seems to the writer
a thing of which Adrienne is wholly incapable, for she ex-
presses deep shock and concern when she learns about the
questionable affairs of Mme Legras.

Adrienne fut atterrée. . . . Comment n'avait-

elle pas compris plus t6t? Mais aussi pouvait-

elle savoir jusqu cu allait l' impudsnce de ces

creatures qui n 'hésitaient pas a ss montrsr en

public, an concert? Car elle n 'hesitait pas a

mettre Mme Legras dans la catsgorie la plus ab-

jecte. Le front et les joues lui brulerent.

Jamais elle n 'avait ete plus vivement atteinte

dans son orgusil. Ainsi, elle s était lise

avec une femme des rues. Quelque chose fremit

en elle, et elle eut conscience, tout d' un coup,

d'etre une Mesurat, mais une Mesurat presque

deshonorée, presque souillee.4
Mme Legras is a dowdy and cheap sort of person who, having
recently come to La Tour-l'Evéque, endeavors to become in-
timate with her neighbors. Mesurat has nothing to do with
her, for he knows what she is; Adrienne, unfortunately, be-
comes hopelessly embroiled in her relationship with Mme Legras.
Adrienne is in one sense of the word as innocent as Eugenie,
Catherine, or Anna Ruth; but it can not be said that she is
as pure. That is, she is innocent in the ways of love, but
she is quite capable of malicious and cruel actions. On one
occasion when she sees Dr. Maurecourt walking along the

street, she wants to get his attention, but is too frightened

to call out. She plunges her arms through the window glass,

 

44
Ibid., pp. 167-168.

39

hoping that her father and Germaine will call for the

Doctor; they do not, but guess that it is Dr. Maurecourt with
whom Adrienne is in love. There are other evidences of
erratic behavior, the result of Adrienne's confused thinking.
She feels that whoever she loves will help her, lift her from
beneath the authority of her father and Germaine. The reader
can not wonder that Adrienne does not assert herself as he
may perhaps wonder at Eugénie's submission to her father.
There is no question of moral or filial obligation as in

Washington Square.

 

C‘ était une question de supériorité physique.
I1 était plus fort qu 'elle. Pouvait-elle lui
arracher cette clef? Et par une contradiction
singuliere, elle éprouvait quelque chose comme
du contentement a se savoir impuissante. Si
elle avait été libre, qu 'aurait-elle fait?
Comme autrefois elle aurait rodé autour de ce
pavillon, elle aurait promene sa douleur le
long de la rue Carnot et sur la route nati-
onale, leurrée du décevant espoir qu 'elle y
rencontrerait le docteur. Maintenant on

1' enfermait, on la gardait a vue. C'etait peut-
Stre moins affreux d' etre plongée ainsi dans
un ennui sans treve que de passer fiévreuse-
ment d' un instant de joie inquiete au plus
cruel des chagrins. Elle etait lasse.

When Mesurat concludes that it is Dr. Maurecourt that his
daughter loves, he reacts in much the same way as Grandet,
Dr. Sloper, and Keller; that is, he feels a threat to himself
and to his home.

Attends un peu. Je vais aller 1e voir ton

docteur, Je lui apprendrai a toucher a une
Mesurat' C'est a ton argent qu '11 en a. Je

 

45
Ibid., p. 65.

4O

commence par te désheriter. Tu n' auras pas un
sou. Tu n' épouseras personne. Tout mon ar-
gent passera a l'Etat. Ah. tu vas voir.
Demain matin 3e vais chez Maurecourt d' abord,
chez mon notaire ensuite. Vous etes-vous
assez moquees de moi ici' L' une se sauve avec
mes bijoux, l'autre déshonore mon nom avec un
miserable qui convoite sa fortune, et moi,
l'idiot, 1e gateux, je ne suis pas censé com-
prendre, hein?46

There is no basis, however, for his accusation, which so
infuriates Adrienne that she pushes him down the stairs, to
his death; she refuses to admit her action, even to herself.
It is obvious that Adrienne is extremely unhappy in her love;
but, whereas love affords some measure of happiness and hope
to Eugenie and Catherine and complete happiness to Anna Ruth,
it only intensifies the mental suffering of Adrienne.
Adrienne has no one to confide in except Mme Legras, who is
of no help to her in any way, although her company does
afford Adrienne a momentary escape from her dreary life.
When she discovers that Adrienne is in love with Dr. Maure-
court, Mme Legras expresses what probably a great many readers
would heartily approve.
Allons' . . . il ne 8 'agit pas d‘ encourager un
penchant qui ne peut vous mener nulle part. 11
faut vous guérir. Vous etes jeune, jolie, assez
riche, n 'est-ce pas? Autant de choses qu il
serait honteux de gacher. Songez un peu a ce
que vous etes, que diable' Songez a votre bon-
heur. Il est insensé de vous enticher d' un

homme de ce genre. Tenez, Je ne peux pas prendre
cette histoire au serieux.4

 

46 y
Ibid., p. 152.

4'7Ibid., p. 234.

41

But, of course, the passion has gone far beyond the point at
which it might have been called infatuation; she is obsessed
not only by Dr. Maurecourt, but by her entire mode of living,
her past actions. Whether Dr. Maurecourt could have helped
Adrienne is extremely doubtful; her mental condition is almost
one of insanity. Moreover, she rejects the Doctor's efforts
to aid her, and he is hindered by the fact that she thinks

she loves him. r. Maurecourt leaves her alone after telling
her that he is ill and could not marry her even if he loved
her. He advises her to make friends with some eligible young
men, a crushing climax to the tortures she has endured because
of her love for him. Adrienne does not blame the Doctor, but
she says that she can not help herself; she is doomed to re-
main in her mental and physical prison of unrequited love.

Her reactions are always more violent than those of Eugenie

or Catherine. Adrienne's disappointment in love is, however,
perhaps the least of the contributing factors to her derange-
ment. Even if Dr. Maurecourt had loved her, it is doubtful

that she could have led a normal life.

CHAPTER IV. A LEGACY FOR THE HEIRESS

Although the romantic affair of the heiress is the major
action in these four novels, there remains the question of
its effects upon the members of each family and on the denoue-
ment of the plot. Balzac, like James, seems to hasten the
recitation of Eugenie's history after the departure of Charles.
It is as if there were very little left in Eugénie's life that
is worthy of mention; that is, she has became a woman and has
fallen in love unsuccessfully. Therefore, the story must be

.concluded. This does not mean that Eugenie Grandet and

 

Washington Square are completely lacking in action after the
exposition of the romance; but, rather, that the conclusion
is expedited.

After Charles' departure for the Indies, Mme Grandet
becomes very ill. The most obvious cause is Grandet's pun-
ishment of Eugenie for her refusal to disclose what she has
done with her birthday money. There are secondary causes, of
course, one of which might be malnutrition and another which
has to do mdth Charles. It greatly distresses Mme Grandet
that she and Eugenie do not hear from Charles. Mme Grandet
has, because of her illness and because she shares Eugénie's
secret, become nearly as involved in her daughter's love as
Eugenie herself. The memory of Charles provides them with
hope and some little happiness; it might perhaps be called

the sole sustaining influence in the lives of these two women,

43

certainly in Eugenie's. "Elle se Ietirait en elle-meme,
aimant et se croyant aimée. Depuis sept ans, sa passion

avait tout envahi."48 Nevertheless, Eugénie's enforced con-
finement, for a period of nearly six months, proves fatal to
her mother. Perhaps Grandet might have wished to continue
Eugenie‘s punishment indefinitely, for he seems to have com-
pletely disregarded the resulting effects upon his wife, whose
vitality is daily sapped by his cruelty. It is only after
Cruchot tells him that, if Mme Grandet dies, Eugenie will be
in a position to demand a large portion of the Grandet estates,
that he yields to the lawyer's advice to reconcile himself
with.his daughter and wife.

Grandet commencait alors sa soixante- seizieme
année. Depuis deux ans principalement, son ava-
rice 3 'était accrue comme s 'accroissent toutes
les passions persistsntes de 1' homme. Suivant
une observation faite sur les avares, sur les’
ambitieux, sur tous les gens dont la vie a éte
consacrée a une idée dominante, son sentiment
Iavait affectionné plus particulierement un sym-
bole de sa passion. La vue de 1' or, la possession
de l'or était devenue sa monomanie. Son esprit
de despotisme avait grandi en prOportion de son
avarice, et abandonner 1a direction de la moin-
dre partie de ses biens a la mort de sa femme lui
paraissait une chose contre nature. Declarer sa
fortune a sa fille, inventorier I‘universalite
de ses biens meugles et immeubles pour les
liciter? . .

 

That Grandet finds himself in such a position, and by his own
actions, literally flightens him into a bizarre benevolence,

by which mother, father, and daughter are reunited. Eugenie

 

18B

' 491bid., p. 447.

alzac, op. cit., p. 460.

 

44

is once again permitted to partake of the regular diet, at

the price of disinheriting herself. After Mme Grandet's
death, which occurs in spite of Grandet's burst of solicitude,
Eugenie signs a waiver which places her share of her mother's
fortune entirely at the disposal of Grandet.

Remorse for the loss of his humble wife does not affect
Grandet. He is consistently avaricious until his death five
years later, and Eugenie is, at last, wealthy and her own
mistress. True, she barely changes her manner of living after
Grandet's death, but it probably never occurs to her to do so,
nor would it have made her any happier. Her character, at
thirty years of age, is of such simplicity and gentleness
that it is unlikely that money could ever be her life force.
Yet, she does not fail to give more than generously of her
fortune to the Church, as she so willingly pays the final
claims upon her uncle's estate in order that Charles may
marry an aristocrat. More than seven years elapse from the
time of Charles' arrival-in Saumur until Eugenie hears from
him again. In the preceding chapter the writer commented on
the sincerity of Charles' affection for Eugenie. During the
seven year interlude his love, genuine at its inception, seems
to have succumbed to "inherited traits of character."

Au contact perpetuel des interets, son coeur

se refloidit, se contracta, se dessecha. Le

sang des Grandet ne faillit point a sa destinee.
Charles devint dur, Apre a la curée . . . Si
la noble et pure figure d'Eugenie l'accompagna
dans son premier voyage comme cette image de

Vierge que mettent sur leur vaisseau les marins
espagnols, et 3 'il attribua ses premiers succes a

45

la magique influence des voeux et des prieres de

cette douce fille; plus tard, les Négresses, les

Mulatresses, les Blanches, les Javanaises, les

Almées, ses orgies de toutes les couleurs, et

les aventures qu‘il eut en divers pays effacerent

completement 1e souvenir de sa cousine, de Saumur,

de la maison, du banc, du baiser pris dans le

couloir.5O
Consequently, Eugénie,is bereft of everything but the comfort
that religion provides to her, this being only that her
happiness must necessarily lie in heaven, as Mme Grandet had
believed. It is ironical that Eugenie has that which would
have made Grandet happy, that is, a vast fortune completely
her own, while Grandet possessed the family and home that his
daughter so earnestly desired.

Catherine, unlike Eugenie, does not exist on the hope of
love. But then, she has an advantage in that her romance was
definitely terminated, however temporary a separation Morris
may have intended as he professed in his last letter to
Catherine. She does not marry, although two other suitors
express the deSire to become her husband. Certainly, she does
not languish for a dead love; on the contrary, she is an
accomplished maiden-lady, as if that were her desired purpose
in life.

Catherine, however, became an admirable old maid.
She formed habits, regulated her days upon a
system of her own, interested herself in chari-
table institutions, asylums, hospitals, and aid

societies; and went generally, with an even and
noiseless step, about the rigid business of her

 

50 .
Ibid., pp. 464-4650

46

life . . . She had, of course, no faculty for
quenching memory in dissipation; but she mingled
freely in the usual gayeties of the town, and

she became at last an inevitable figure at all
respectable entertainments. She was greatly liked,
and as time went on she grew to be a sort of kindly
maiden-aunt to the younger portion of society.51

Yet, Dr. Sloper persists in the idea that Catherine fully in-
tends to elope with Morris. It is this idea that prompts him
to alter his will after all. Although Catherine receives a
small portion of her father's estate, she is scarcely less
wealthy than if she had originally elOped with Morris (dis-
regarding the fact that Morris might have squandered her money
in a short time). The Doctor‘s behavior toward his daughter,
on this account, appears to be even more illogical if the
reader considers that it is not until nearly seventeen years
after Catherine's engagement was broken that her father
practically disinherits her. Dr. SIOper wishes Catherine to
promise that she will never marry Morris; such an agreement
is pointless as far as she is concerned.

All her feelings were merged in the sense that

he was trying to treat her as he had treated her

years before. She had suffered from it then;

and now all her eXperience, all her acquired

tranquillity and rigidity protested. She had

been so humble in her youth that she could now

afford to have a little pride, and there was

something in this request, and in her father's

thinking himself so free to make it, that seemed
an injury to her dignity.52

 

51
James, op. cit., pp. 244-245.

2
5 Ibid., p. 248.

47

While there is reason for according Charles some degree
of sympathy, there is little in Morris' character which
warrants such emotion on the part of the reader. Balzac
represents Charles as being the victim of his heredity; James
portrays Morris as nothing more than a heartless scoundrel.
Nevertheless, about one year after the death of the Doctor,
Mrs. Penniman tries to convince Catherine that Morris, visiting
in New York, has suffered enough and is still more than worthy
of her affection.

Hg has no bitterness, Catherine, I can assure you;
and he might be excused for it, for things have not
gone Well with him. He has been all over the
world, and tried to establish himself QVerywhere;
but his evil star was against him. It is most
interesting to hear him talk of his evil star.
Everything failed; everything but his-~you know,
you remember-~his proud, high spirit . . . He
had heard you had never married; he seemed very
much interested about that. He said you had been
the real romance of his life.55

During his period of self-inflicted absence from Catherine,
Morris traveled to California, and thence to Europe where he
was married and where his wife died. Catherine comprehends,
then, that Morris is most callous and unfeeling.

This person did not look unhappy. He was fair
and well-preserved, perfectly dressed, mature
and complete. As Catherine looked at him, the
story of his life defined itself in his eyes;

he had made himself comfortable, and he had
never been caught. But even while her percep-
tion opened itself to this, she had no desire to
catch him; his presence was'painful to her, and
she only wished he would go.54

 

"'“‘36'
Ibid., pp. 254-255.

54
Ibid., p. 260.

48

This revelation, however, comes too late to make a change in
Catherine. WOuld she have acted differently if she had known
in the beginning that Morris was not sincere? This, of course,
can not be answered except to say that her father might have
done much more to make her emotionally secure and happy than
he did.

When Dr. SlOper dies, he shows no signs of the obsession
that is apparent in Grandet; yet their deaths are alike in
that they do not die suddenly and violently as do Mesurat and
Keller. Grandet, however, is not so precise as Dr. Sloper in
the matter of his fortune, but his final words are an admoni-
tion to Eugenie. "Aie bien soin de tout. Tu me rendras
compte de 9a la-bas."55 It would be out of character for Dr.
Sloper merely to tell Catherine that she must take care of all
the money. On his will's being opened, it was found that the
Doctor had left careful instructions for the division and dis-
posal of his estate. Keller and Mesurat both die violently.
Keller, overcome by coal gas, falls and receives a blow on
his head. Mesurat dies when he is pushed down the stairs by
Adrienne, due perhaps as much to temporary insanity as to the
fact that she may have acted in self-defense. Mesurat had
struck his daughter two or three times before she rushed at
him blindly as he stood at the top of the stairway. Mesurat
had made no definite will nor any statements concerning such,

other than that he threatened to disinherit both of his

 

55
Balzac, op. cit., p. 457.

49

daughters. Keller, perhaps, intended to make a will at some
future date, for he very carefully preserved the scrap of
paper on Which Juliet relinquished all claim to any of the
Keller possessions when she entered the convent. He was also
shrewd enough to have a witness countersign Juliet's state-
ment.

It is curious that both Eugenie and [Anna Etuth (at least,
for some time) do not react to the possession of money in this
way: it is not unusual for people who quite suddenly inherit
money or property to dispose of it, foolishly or otherwise.
Eugenie does not feel as Anna Ruth does that she must put
aside for her old age; neither does she make use of her money
for personal gain. There is another point that may cause the
reader to speculate. That is that neither Eugenie nor Anna
Ruth bear any resentment toward the father who has used his
family so cruelly and deceitfully. It would not seem strange
to the writer if Eugenie and Anna Ruth had hated a father who
'so abused them as well as the other members of the family.
Could Eugenie ignore the fact that Grandet was responsible
for the death of her mother? Or could Anna Ruth help but
think of Keller as being negligent in the death of Mrs. Keller
if not, in fact, her murderer? Catherine‘s position is a
little different, for her attitude of awe and inferiority
toward her father gives way to indifference; yet not resent-
ment, except in so far as she will not promise never to marry

Morris. As for Adrienne, although she acts erratically on

50

most occasions, her dislike of hesurat seems "normal."

It is not until after Keller‘s death that Anna Ruth
discovers that she is not destitute. She is in fact quite
wealthy, for Keller was able to profit by the formula which
he had advised Anna Ruth to follow. Yet, she does not seem
fully to comprehend that she is no longer poor. Indeed, she
can only ask Mr. Ripley, Keller's broker, if there will be
enough to "cover eXpenses." Nor does the money make any
difference in her mode of existence.

Nothing that she did or planned had any rela-
tion to her inheritance. If it had been a hundred
and one thousand, or even a hundred thousand and
a few hundreds, it might have had a different
aspect. But a hundred thousand was a sum to hold
inviolate. She had paid the expense of Keller's
funeral from the profits of the store and she
had still enough on hand to pay for a tombstone.
She meant to buy tombstones for all, her father
and her mother and Roger, and in order to do
this she intended to go without a winter coat
and other articles of clothing which she needed.

There were other ways in which she could make
money . . . One could do anything, suffer any-

thing, accomplish prodigies of labor when one was
really keeping off poverty.56

Thus Anna Ruth decides that she will save her money in order
that one hundred thousand dollars may become two hundred thou-
sand dollars. She becomes in truth "Keller's Anna Ruth" and
seems destined to live the rest of her days on Duke Street in
Middlebury. Anna Ruth seldom thinks of Arthur or the observa-
tory at Arequipa, Peru, until one day when the postman feels .

obligated to tell her about the letters from Arthur which

 

56
Singmaster, op. cit., pp. 255-256.

51

Keller had confiscated. She is at first indifferent to this
information. But, after some reflection, she decides that if
she missed Arthur's letters while sorting her father's mail
(carefully preserved from several years past, since Keller
never threw anything away) she may have overlooked more im-
portant papers. It seems to be for this reason alone that
she takes time to search for the letters, all of which she
finds and carefully reads. A single thought occurs to her,
that she might once have been happy; however, she must devote
herself to making two hundred thousand dollars. With due
respect to Elsie Singmaster, it cannot be said that she has
permitted Anna Ruth to fall so completely into the ways of a
miser, or to forget so readily her love for Arthur, that her
change of heart seems contrived. Nevertheless, it is not
without some mental conflict that Anna Ruth finally decides
to seek happiness rather than accumulate more money. After
reading Arthur's_letters, she goes to bed accompanied by the
cat, Beauty, who usually prowls in the cellar at night.

A deep purr, like no purr she had ever heard, so

profound was its contentment, spoke close to Anna

Ruth's ear her own words, 'two hundred thousand

dollars, two hundred thousand dollars.‘

Appalled, she tried to move, to shrink away,

but the furry ball moved with her, and to push it

away, but it would not be pushed. She tried to

speak, but the purr was louder than her voice.

Terrified, she sprang up and lit the gas . . . she

saw a white face in the mirror and suffered a

hideous delusion-~were the pale cheeks, the staring

eyes hers or her father's?

For a moment she stood still regarding it;

then she hid with her hands the face of which it

was the image . . . Taking her hands away she

looked at herself bravely, and amazement over-

whelmed her. Love never faileth, but she had
failed Arthur . . . '

52

'You have'--the reminder seemed to emanate
from the creature in the bed--'You have a hundred
thousand dollars.‘
She remembered the touch of Azalea's hand as
she paid five cents for her small portion of
tobacco, she remembered a deep look in Mrs.
Harrington's eye as she handed over fourteen cents
for her prunes, she remembered Kiss Randall's
averted gaze.
'0 God1"wailed Anna Ruth. '0 God, don't let
me die 1'57
Then, Anna Ruth, with the help of Miss Randall, prepares to go
to Peru to marry Arthur. She gives the store to a neighbor
and charges Mr. Ripley with the financial details of the Keller
estate. Not only has there occurred a great change in Anna
Ruth's character, but her appearance improves greatly, as if
the heroine ought to be pretty and in keeping with a romantic
and happy ending. After a trying voyage, Anna Ruth is happily
and finally reunited with Arthur, whose love for her had not
lessened through the years.

The denouement of Adrienne Mesurat is by far the most

 

dismal and depressing, although the reader can not possibly

contend that the endings of Eugenie Grandet and Washington

 

Sguare are by any means happy. Green devotes most of his
novel to the eXposition of Adrienne‘s mental decline. The
death of Mesurat ends the first part of the noel. Adrienne is
left alone in almost the same position as Anna Ruth; that is,
they are not sole survivors, each having a sister in a convent.
Juliet Keller, however, does not share her father's estate

with Anna Ruth as Germaine does. But, Adrienne does not have

 

57
Ibid., pp. 275-276.

55

a store with which to occupy herself; she seems to have
nothing but her dubious friend, Mme Legras. It was Mme Legras
who had first arrived on the scene after Mesurat's fall. She
realizes, of ccurse, that there was something peculiar about
the accident and can not refrain from voicing insinuations
that frighten Adrienne, who refuses to admit, even to herself,
that it was she who pushed her father down the stairs. She
would like to discontinue their relationship, but she can not
bring herself to do this.

Ce n 'etait pas qu 'Adrienne eut change a son
égard. Bien au contraire, elle la détestait
plus que jamais mais on cut dit que quelque
chose la liait a Mme Legras sans qu 'elle efit

1e pouvoir de se liberer de cette odieuse
compagnie. Elle etait certaine que Mme Legras
avait pénétré tout ce qu '11 y avait de myste-
rieux dans la mort de son pere. Cela seul
aurait du l' écarter d' une personne aussi dan-
gereuse, mais, des qu 'elle n 'etait plus avec
elle, Adrienne se sentait prise d' une inquié-
tude qu 'elle ne 3 'expliquait pas. Le cailletage
de sa voisine lui manquait. Il fallait qu 'elle
entendit cette voix bavarde et indiscrete qui
lui rappelait sans cesse 1a fin tragique de M.
Mesurat. Elle eprouvait alors une répugnance
penible et, a la fois, une espece de soulage-
ment.

There is also the question of Dr. Maurecourt, whose name Kme
Legras glibly bandies about in her conversation. Adrienne
dislikes her to Speak of him; it seems profane to her, yet it
satisfies her to hear him Spoken of, although she fancies that
she loves him less.

Deux soucis avaient pris dans sa vie une pre-
ponderante: il fallait qu 'elle pensat au

 

58
Green, 0 . cit., p. 148.

docteur ou qu 'elle fit effort pour ne pas songer

a lui, ce qui etait une autre maniére de 3' occu-

per de cet homme, et 11 fallait qu 'elle entendit

Mme Legras lui parler de la mort de son pere et

l'accuser sournoisement de l' avoir assassine.

Tout ce qui la distrayait de son amour mal

combattu et de ses remords inavoues lui etait

insupportable.59
Maurecourt, being the only doctor in La Tour-l'Evéque, had
attended her father, and Adrienne dwells with ecstatic pleasure
upon the fact that he had been in her house. Thus, she can
not give up her morbid preoccupation nor sever her friendship
with Mme Legras.

On one occasion Mme Legras tells Adrienne she must go to
Paris for a few days. Adrienne, who realizes that without
her friend the hours will pass with agonizing slowness, decides
that she, too, will take a trip, anyWhere. The first train
from La Tour-l'Evéque is destined for Monfiort-l'Amaury. The
trip promises to ease the monotony with which her life is

surfeited.

C' était 1a premiere fois qu 'elle voyageait seule
et pour la premiere fois aussi elle cut 1' im-
pression qu 'elle etait libre. Elle était de-
livrée enfin de cette contrainte inexplicable
dont elle souffrait tant a la villa des Charmes,
elle n ‘avait plus a lutter avec elle-meme pour
ne pas penser a certaines choses. 50

A strange town, however, makes no difference in her attitude;

she is still bored and anxious, afraid that she seems strange

 

59
Ibid., pp. 157-158.

60Ibid., p. 173.

55

to other people. The next day she goes to Dreux, another
small provincial town. She broods to such an extent that
she becomes feverish and fears that she has Germaine's disease.
During the night, she dreams that her sister is in the room
with her after having been buried, for bits of earth cling to
Germaine's clothes, and she appears very carefully made-up.
Adrienne returns home the next morning, more melancholy than
ever.

Qu'avait-elle gagné a se déplacer? N'avait-elle

pas été obligée de revenir? Si encore elle etait

revenue dans un état d'esprit plus calme, avec

une coeur plus fort! Mais, au contraire, elle

n‘avait fait que se meurtrir, que s'abimer dans

. une melancolie plus profonde. ‘
'Je ne peux plus vivre ainsi, dit-elle a
plusieurs reprises en frappant son genou de son
poing fermé; mais ces paroles au lieu de l'inciter
agir ne lui paraissaient que la constatation

d'un fait irrémédiable.61

Although Mme Legras contrives the meeting with Maurecourt
during which Adrienne confesses her love for him, she does
not endear herself to Adrienne; she becomes on the contrary
more odious. Adrienne's ignorance of her friend's motives
and reputation is perhaps the greatest barrier to any chance
she may have for rehabilitation. It is Mme Legras who pre-
cipitates Adrienne's final madness. She comes to Adrienne
one morning, shortly after Dr. Maurecourt has explained that

he could not marry her, in order to borrow some money.

Adrienne consents, but then changes her mind after she has

 

6I'
Ibid., p. 206.

unlocked her money-box. There ensues an argument, which

Mme Legras wins, because Adrienne feeling herself conquered,
lapses into a type of coma. Mme Legras, taking advantage of
the young woman's stupor, absconds with all of her money and
some jewelry. About noon, Adrienne makes a partial recovery,
only to learn from her cook that the townspeople have made
her the subject of daily speculation and that Mme Legras has
left La Tour-l'Eveque. She encounters ill-will from another
quarter; Maurecourt's sister, an extremely possessive and
jealous woman, has intercepted the unsigned notes which
Adrienne had sent Dr. Maurecourt. Marie Maurecourt, during
her first visit to Adrienne, tried to be sympathetic; however,
when she discovers that Adrienne and Mme Legras are seemingly
close friends, she threatens to have Adrienne forcibly ex-
pelled from La Tour-l'Equue. She issues this warning to
Adrienne, who is still in a state of shock, and who succumbs
for the last time to semi-consciousness. She wanders aim-
lessly about the house for some time. Then she goes out to
walk along the highway, her muttering occasionally interrupted
by loud bursts of obscenity. When she is apprehended at the

outskirts of the next village, her memory is completely void.

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION

The purpose of this study has been a critical investigation
of father and daughter in each novel, to determine whether or
not they qualify categorically as miser and heiress. The
method of presentation of the material has been a detailed
description of each novel involving comparison and contrast.
In order to qualify the several fathers and daughters as to
type, there ought, of necessity, to be a definition of miser
and of heiress, however arbitrary. The writer has deemed the
standard dictionary definition suitable in this instance.
Thus, a miser is one who lives miserably to increase his
hoard, a covetous and grasping person.

Grandet, without question, can be termed a miser
according to the foregoing definition; in like manner, there
is no question about the aptness of placing Keller in this
category. _Dr. Sloper, although he promoted the increase of
his estate, did so at no loss of comfort either for himself
or for his family. Neither he nor Mesurat were particularly
covetous and grasping, although Mesurat may seem, to the
reader, more penurious than Dr. Sloper. Yet, he did not
force his family to exist on a sub-standard economy.

The heiress, by definition, is she who receives or is
entitled to receive any endowment or quality from a parent

or predecessor. If the definition is applied in its entirety,

58

that is, that a heritage is not limited to material goods,
the heroine in each case is an heiress. But, this point

requires some elaboration. Eugenie and Catherine seem to
have inherited more money than Anna Ruth or Adrienne. The

sum is specific in Eugenie Grandet and in Keller's Anna Ruth,

 

 

and reader knows that, after the death of her father, Catherine
had a generous and steady income each year. Green did not
mention a specific amount for Adrienne's inheritance.

Eugénie and Anna Ruth, in addition to a material legacy,
inherited some of their fathers' characteristics. At one

time or another, both exhibited a proclivity for economizing
if not for avarice. Eugenie and Catherine shared a similar
fate after having had an unhappy romance; they chose spinster-
hood, although the social and economic structure of the nine-
teenth century did not provide for the acceptable existence

of spinsters. While happiness was the lot of Anna Ruth,
Adrienne fell heir to severe mental derangement.

With the rapid growth of industrialization and
capitalism, and renewed emphasis on the phiIOSOphy of
materialism all over Europe in the nineteenth century,
literature became "realistic." Balzac is one of the first
of the realistic school, and what could have been, or still
is, a more realistic subject than money and finance? This
particular subject played a major role in his novels, as
many of the novels of Henry James exhibit somewhat the same
concern, although with a different emphals. While Green

is not of the nineteenth century realistic school, his

59

representation of the vice of greed is as vigorous as that

of Balzac, perhaps more so in Mont-Cinére than in Adrienne

 

Mesurat. Each of the four novelists presents evidence that
the capitalistic system is especially fertile ground for

the greed of the miser, although it cannot be said that any
particular economic system is the cause of avarice, nor the
miser the result, even though the miser typically employs
opportunistic capitalism to edify his avarice. Grandet and
Keller were as much shrewd businessmen and promoters as they
were misers. It is impossible to say if they only desired
financial success and security and then became addicted to
avarice, or vice versa.

The miser and heiress in our society are not uncommon;
scarcely a year passes that the papers or weekly magazines
do not vividly relate the death of some person who, while
having led a squalid existence, has stuffed money into
mattresses and sugar bowls. Perhaps Balzac based Eugenie
Grandet upon such an incident from "real life." There was
a famous miser residing in Saumur during Balzac's lifetime;
and Henry James recorded in his notebooks a story which had
been told him by a friend, and on which he later based
Washington Square. Throughout the history of modern literature
the theme of greed and avarice has been attractive to both
the novelist and the playwright. Shakespeare's character
Shylock, in the Merchant of Venice (c. 1595), Volpone (1606),

by Ben Jonson, and L'Avare (1668), by Moliére, are earlier

60

examples. Balzac did not confine his representation of
avarice to Eugenie Grandet; the characters Gobseck in
Gobseck (1850), and Pierre Graslin in Le Cure de Villagg
(1841), are also misers. Dickens, who has been called the
"English Balzac," portrayed many misers in his novels. The

characters of Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (1845), and

 

Anthony and Jonas Chuzzlewit in Martin Chuzzlewit (1843),

are notable examples. George Eliot's Silas Marner (1861),

 

and Zola's La Terre (1887), and L'Argent (1891), are other
examples. Frank Norris utilized this theme in McTeague (1899),
as did-Arnold Bennett in 1923, in Riceyman Stepg. Julien
Green's first novel, Mont-Cinere (1925), dealt with the

 

tragedy of greed and avarice. That this subject is still of
great interest was demonstrated quite recently by the success

that The Heiress, a play based upon Washington Square,

 

enjoyed.

Since the time of Balzac there have been many novels
based on this theme; perhaps Balzac was responsible and
perhaps not. But it can be said that not many of them are
equal in literary stature to Eugenie Grandet. Is it
realistic or plausible for the reader to imagine a greedy
and grasping man ecstatically contemplating his hoarded money
without risking a comic effect? Is it realistic or plausible
to imagine a pure and innocent daughter in the house of that
miser without being maudlin? A majority of the playsand

novels cited, as well as the four novels investigated, bear

61

witness to the fact that greed and avarice furnish one of
the most tragic subjects available for development in the

novel.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Honoré de Balzac, Eugenie Grandet. (Oeuvres Completes de
Honoré de Balzac.)’ Texte revisé et annoté par karcel
Bouteron et Henri Longnon. Paris: Louis Conard, Libraire-
Editeur, Vol. VIII, 1915. Pp. 273-486.

 

Edwin Preston Dargan, W. L. Grain, and others: Studies in
Balzacl§_Rea1ism. University of Chicago Press, 1932,
Pp. 215. (The University of Chicago Studies in Balzac.)

 

Julien Green, Adrienne Mesurat. Paris: Librairie Plon,
1927. Pp. 285.

Edmond Jaloux,'"Julien Green." Bookman (American), Vol.
LXVII (March, 1928). Pp. 54-35.

Henry James, Notes on Novelists, With Some Other Notes.
New York: C. Scribner‘s Sons, 1914. rp. 455.

The Question of Our Speech; The Lesson of Balzac;
Two Lectures. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflln
and100mpany, 1905. Pp. 115.

 

Washington Square. lst ed. New York: Harper and
Brothers, 1881. Pp. 266.

Dayton Kohler, "Elsie Singmaster." Bookman (American),
V01. LXXII (February, 1931). Pp. 621-626.

Elsie Singmaster, Keller's Anna Ruth. Boston and New York:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1926. Pp. 505.

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