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Political and Economic Aspects of Germinal A N

Political and Economic Aspects of Germinal,

Published in 1885, Germinal, was the thirteenth of a great series of twenty novels which Zola wrote to completely explore the place of man in his environment from the fashionable point of view of the day, scientific determinism. Germinal concerns itself with the living conditions of the miners in France and the complex interwoven politics and economics of the mining industry as it related to life as a whole at that time. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss this novel in terms of the politics and economics of France during the time period in which the story is set.

Zola's object in Germinal was to study the whole question of coal mining in northern France, working-class conditions, the clash between ownership and labor, and the various solutions put forth by organized labor (9). He accomplishes this feat through a remarkable use of the point of view of the character, Etienne, an educated, intelligent outsider who becomes a mine worker and organizes resistance to the brutal working conditions. Etienne lives as a boarder in the home of the Maheus family, a laboring couple and their seven children and the grandfather, Bonnemort.

Zola was a contemporary of Vincent Van Gogh, and one of his childhood friends was the painter, Cezanne. This is significant because it gives one the understanding that his work is Impressionistic. He describes the inhuman working and living conditions in such relentless detail that the reader nearly reels with a stupor-like response to such incredible poverty and near-animal living conditions. There is little objective interpretation of what is happening. The details of the story set a somber, Surrealistic mood which carries the reader into a vicarious reliving of the conditions of life for the miners and their families.

The translator's Introduction to the work states that Germinal is not a true account of actual conditions in Northern France ...

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Political and Economic Aspects of Germinal A N. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 11:18, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1700392.html