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Volume 3, Book 2: The Great Bourgeois
Explanation and Analysis—Gillenormand in a Rage:
For the most part, Marius was raised by his grandfather Monsieur Gillenormand, a tempered man and a staunch royalist. With imagery, the novel illustrates Gillenormand's begrudged character while also presenting him as a foil:
He was over ninety years of age, his walk was erect, he talked loudly, saw clearly, drank neat, ate, slept, and snored. He had all thirty-two of his teeth. He only wore spectacles when he read. He was of an amorous disposition, but declared that, for the last ten years, he had wholly and decidedly renounced women […] He was superficial, rapid, easily angered. He flew into a passion at everything, generally quite contrary to all reason. When contradicted, he raised his cane; he beat people as he had done in the great century. He had a daughter over fifty years of age, and unmarried, whom he chastised severely with his tongue, when in a rage, and whom he would have liked to whip.
Related Themes:
