Misrepresentation of Eugenie Grandet s character The intro to this article says the Eugenie inherits her father s miserliness The end of the article states that she continues as an orphan and widow to live in his miserly ways but without his obsession with gold This is not correct The one who inherits the miserliness of Grandet is Charles his nephew Balzac states this explicitly near the end of the book when he says that this trait found an outlet in Charles rather than his daughter Charles grows from a callow and spoiled young man into a corrupt libertine and finally into a hard nosed skinflint Eugenie whose character is one of modesty piety and love continues to live in the simple and austere manner of her upbringing but she knows nothing else and having been betrayed in love wants nothing for herself In tremendous contrast to her father she is extremely generous with people giving Nanon a fine marriage portion distributing funds far and wide for charity and endowing public institutions like libraries and hospitals Her personal austerity springs from a lack of interest in material comfort not from miserliness 72 37 171 100