'The Red Room' is a satire of the Swedish society of the end of the 19th century. The main character of the novel, a y…'The Red Room' is a satire of the Swedish society of the end of the 19th century. The main character of the novel, a young, shy and kind-hearted idealist Arvid Falk is caught in a vicious circle. He tries to oppose the hypocricy, lies, greed and corruption of the representatives of practically all the professional fields he comes across. But the experience only fills him with bitterness and disappontment. However, the visitors of The Red Room seem to be honest, at least... 'One afternoon in August, Falk was again sitting in the garden on Moses Height; but he was alone, and he had been alone during the whole summer. He was turning over in his mind all that had happened to him during the three months which had passed since his last visit, when his heart was brimful of hope, courage, and strength. He felt old, tired, indifferent; he had seen the houses at his feet from the inside, and on every occasion his expectations had been disappointed. He had seen humanity under many aspects, aspects which are only revealed to the eye of the poor man's doctor or the journalist, with the only difference that the journalist generally sees men as they wish to appear, and the doctor as they are. He had every opportunity of studying man as a social animal in all possible guises; he had been present at Parliamentary meetings, church councils, general meetings of shareholders, philanthropic meetings, police court proceedings, festivals, funerals, public meetings of working men; everywhere he had heard big words and many words, words never used in daily intercourse, a particular species of words which mean nothing, at least not what they ought to mean. This had given him a one-sided conception of humanity; he could see in man nothing but the deceitful social animal, a creature he is …