Christopher Prendergast writes "Eugenie's story is primarily of interest as the tale of a rite de passage from innocence to experience, ignorance to knowledge, illusion to disenchantment."[4]
Balzac portrays Eugenie's father Felix as a miser, and his portrayal is influenced by the character Harpagon from Molière's play, The Miser. He wrote, “Molière had created Avarice with Harpagon; with Old Grandet, I have created a miser.”[5] Felix Grandet was also part of the new capitalist class that had emerged since the French Revolution. The start of his fortunes occur during the Revolution when he takes advantage of the opportunities at that time, pretending to be a committed Republican. He continues to prosper in the years since the Revolution in spite of all the political changes.[4]
Balzac had initially classified this novel as one of the Scènes de la vie privée in La Comédie humaine but then later moved it to the Scènes de la vie de province. So the novel is a study of life in provincial France, and the interconnection between the private lives of the Grandet family and the public life of Saumur.[4]
