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| Plot Summary of Germinal |
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"A story about political revolution--or attempts at it--in France in the 19th century. From the point of view of an outsider who joins a mining town full of suffering people."
sarrah, Resident Scholar
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"Zola's Germinal is a book about a mining village in France during the industrial revolution. It tells of the opression and difficulties the miners face that lead them to gather together and strike against the company. "
, Resident Scholar
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"It's a very cold, early spring morning in about 1867 when 21-year-old Etienne, a mechanic who lost his job in the south for slugging a foreman, chances into a coal mining job in the north of France. He soon learns the ways of the poor mining families of Montsou, especially the children of Maheu, with whom he lives for a while, and the 15-year-old daughter Catharine, who becomes the subject of a bristling romantic rivalry between Etienne and another young miner, Chaval.
Able to read and possessed of a little education, Etienne naturally wants to help the miners better their situation, and he is swayed by a traveling union organizer as well as retired miners who run the local shops. But the more he rises in the organization, the more he is torn between his sympathy for his fellow workers and a desire to get beyond their dirty, dangerous life.
Zola's 1885 novel is the 13th in a great series of 20 books that covered the multiple lives of several French families over many decades, and this was one of the best. It details the working conditions in a mile-deep coal mine, the grinding poverty of the workers, the various levels of bourgeois managers and owners above them. Germinal was surprisingly frank about the sexual mores of the rural people of the time, as well."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Germinal |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- depressed
Time/era of story
- 19th century
Training/promotions story
Yes
Political/social activism
Yes
Plotlet:
- union leaders fighting for labor rights
Life of a profession:
- miner
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Job/Profession/Status story
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric/Mental
Yes
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- French
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- society
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- throughout most of the book.
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 3 ()
Europe
Yes
European country:
- France
Small town?
Yes
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- descript of kissing
- impregnation/reproduction
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Emile Zola Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 David Loftus
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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