Claude Lantier

Claude was born in Plassans to his invalid mother Gervaise Macquart when she was fourteen. He was brought up at his grandmothers house on his fathers side with a brother who was born four years later. His father was a tanner and on Fine's death he took Gervaise and the children to Paris in order to avoid Antoine Macquart and his demands and abuse.
Claude appears in Le Ventre de Paris as a young aspiring painter living around Les Halles. The only relative he refers to is his aunt Lisa. Throughout the book he acts as an observer of behaviours without taking sides. Notably it is he who splits the characters into the fats and the thins. He befriends Florent without ever agreeing with his politics.
He ends the book by commenting “What swine decent people really are”.