Emile Zolas Germinal - Essay Example

Zola’s talent does not stand in a dualistic description of the workers against the capitalist “bourgeoisie”. Germinal is a work of art because we are describing the different natures of the different classes that composed French society in the late 19th century.
The workers and the ruling class are both described through three families that have an alter ego on the other side of the social spectrum. The “Levaque”: the husband is depicted as a brutal and silly worker whose wife is known for her filth. The “Pierron” are seen as ambitious and hypocritical. The husband encourages her wife to have an affair with one of the managers to be well-considered by the mine’s management. The “Maheu” compared to the other families have few defaults. They are courageous, hard workers, and smart. Etienne Lantier, the hero of the novel, they are considered a positive character.
The “Grégoire” are a rich couple who believe that they perform good deeds and help the ones in need but are full of presumptions regarding the working class. The “Deneulin”: the husband is the “patron” (“boss”) of many mines. His character is double. He seems to understand the problems of the miners "The worst is that to lower the net prices we ought logically to produce more; otherwise the reduction bears on wages, and the worker is right in saying that he has to pay the damage." (p. ?) but at the same time, he is merciless. The “Hennebau” is the exact reproduction of the “Maheu” family among the “bourgeoisie”
It is necessary for a better understanding of Zola’s description of the working class to see the role of the bourgeois families. At that time, miners were considered animals without any rights and their social actions neither were respected nor considered as Ms. Hennebau’s words to her husband regarding the strike: “Ah! they are on strike," she said quietly when he had told her. "Well, what has that to do with us? We are not going to leave off eating, I suppose?" “(p. ?) The genius of Zola is to present all these families for the reader to understand that the miners’ wishes were not so different from the bourgeois’.
Nevertheless, the success of Germinal comes from the presentation of a new idea among miners and workers in general: union to pressure management to obtain a salary raise. The idea of a strike was new at that time and described miners as willing to create an organization. Zola also introduces the idea that the main problem was choosing how to organize their efforts. Through Etienne Lantier, the question lies in whether to be a Marxist or an Anarchist. What is the best way to defend workers’ rights? These ideas are strongly opposing the presumptions regarding the working class.
However, the strike finally fails and the workers are again presented as violent and brutal. Even if we may consider the last part of the book as a coming back to the way of seeing miners at that time, Zola’s idea does not stop there. His theory is that the workers need a strong organization and even if the movement was stopped there is hope that it will come back. It bears the “germs” of other struggles for years to come: « Men were springing forth, a black avenging army, germinating slowly in the furrows, growing towards the harvests of the next century, and their germination would soon overturn the earth. » Read More