 Le Père Goriot , especially in its revised form , marks an important early instance of Balzac 's trademark use of recurring characters : persons from earlier novels appear in later works , usually during significantly different times of life . Pleased with the effect he achieved with the return of Rastignac , Balzac included 23 characters in the first edition of Le Père Goriot that would recur in later works ; during his revisions for later editions the number increased to 48 . Although Balzac had used this technique before , the characters had always reappeared in minor roles , as nearly identical versions of the same people . Rastignac 's appearance shows , for the first time in Balzac 's fiction , a novel @-@ length backstory that illuminates and develops a returning character . 
