Le Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac

Set during the Bourbon Restoration, Balzac's LE PÈRE GORIOT examines the lives of Parisians struggling with profound changes in French society and the attempts by many to reach the upper echelons of a class-conscious society. Balzac also analyzes, through Goriot and others, the nature of family and marriage, providing a pessimistic view of these institutions.