 The novel 's representations of social stratification are specific to Paris , perhaps the most densely populated city in Europe at the time . Traveling only a few blocks – as Rastignac does continually – takes the reader into vastly different worlds , distinguished by their architecture and reflecting the class of their inhabitants . Paris in the post @-@ Napoleonic era was split into distinct neighborhoods . Three of these are featured prominently in Le Père Goriot : the aristocratic area around the Boulevard Saint @-@ Germain , the newly upscale quarter of the rue de la Chaussée @-@ d 'Antin , and the run @-@ down area on the eastern slope of the Montagne Sainte @-@ Geneviève . 
