Germinal: Analysis

Miner Triangle

Emile Zola tells the tale of poverty stricken miners in a small French town called Montsou. Germinal begins with Etienne, a mechanic without a job, as he stumbles through the night and comes across Le Voreux, a coalmine outside Montsou. Germinal is about people's lives and struggles. Throughout Germinal Zola describes the lives of the miners and touches upon a few main themes. Etienne along with the other main characters face the issues of socialism, social justice, human nature, and relationships. Throughout the book the miners change and evolve. Their ideals and values develop and progress. Etienne, Catherine, and Chaval exhibit the effects of these themes through their actions and lives. Their relationships evolve throughout the book and their lives are results of socialism and social justice. Their actions are an example of human nature being acted upon by another force, humans themselves. A person could write a thesis on Germinal; however, I will focus the next few paragraphs on three of the major themes and critique Zola's book and personal view. Human nature and human relationships go hand in hand, relationships are products