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Published in 1834, this book is one of Balzac's best works, and its artistic style best represents Balzac's characteristics. Father Goriot is one of a series of typical characters created by Balzac. He is a microcosm of the historical tragedy of the feudal patriarchal thought being defeated by the bourgeois moral principle of money supremacy. The protagonist of the novel, Old Man Gao, shows readers a special kind of fatherly love. He regards his daughters as angels and is willing to sacrifice himself to satisfy their extravagant wishes. For the sake of his daughter's dignity, he stopped his business and moved into the Vauquer apartment alone; in order to pay off his daughter's debt, he sold gold and silver utensils and his late wife's belongings, sold out his pension, and became penniless; in the end, still in order to get money for his daughter, he actually wanted to "steal", "rob", perform military service on behalf of others, "sell his life", and "kill people and set fire".