 Pauline, while demonstrating these traits, consciously fights against them.The result of this struggle is her positive outlook, altruism, and sense of joie de vivre.Mentioned in the course of the novel are Pauline's cousins Aristide Saccard ("La curée" and "L'argent"), Octave Mouret ("Pot-bouille" and "Au bonheur des dames") and Claude Lantier ("L'œuvre"), and M. Rambaud ("Une page d'amour"), the husband of her cousin Hélène Mouret.