主人公葛擂硬是个退休的五金商人，也是个功利主义的信徒，无论教育自己的子女或举办社会教育，都叫人信奉"事实"，并把人生看作是一种"隔着柜台的现钱交易"。在他的这种教育之下，女儿路易莎被迫嫁给了一个比她大三十岁的资本家庞得贝，婚后精神上备受折磨；儿子汤姆赌博成性，竟沦为窃贼而逃往海外。身为工厂老板兼银行家的庞得贝，捏造身世，吹嘘自己是白手起家，以此来麻痹工人，最后弄到众叛亲离。作者通过对葛擂硬和庞得贝两个典型人物得刻画及其家庭遭遇的描写，反映了十九世纪五十年代英国的阶级关系和社会风貌，对资产阶级做了较为深刻的揭露和批判。(The hero Grandet was a retired hardware businessman and a utilitarian believer. Regardless of educating his children or organizing social education, he asked people to believe in "facts" and took life as a "cash transaction over the counter". Under this kind of education, his daughter Louisa was forced to marry with a capitalist Bounderby, thirty years older than her and was tortured in spirit after marriage. His son Tom got addicted to gambling became a thief and ran out to overseas. As the boss of a factory and a banker, Bounderby fabricated his background, boasted that he started empty-handed to lull his workers, finally he was deserted. By description of the two typical characters Gradet and Bounderby and their families' experience, the author reflected British class relations and social features in the 1850s and exposed and criticized the bourgeoisie profoundly.)