Germinal, written by Emile Zola is about a man, Etienne, who receives a mining job at Le Voreux, a coal mine. While working, Etienne discovers the harsh working conditions, and the malnourishment men and women have. As the status of these workers continues to deplete, Etienne is motivated to start a revolt in hope of gaining better working conditions and wages so he and the other workers can live proper lives.
I think Zola wrote this novel to promote the act of revolting, in necessary conditions. Throughout the novel, there are various scenes which depict the hard lives of people living under the harsh conditions. “Choked by a violent cough, he spat, and his spittle left a black stain on the ground.” The reason this man, Bonnemort, was
…show more content…
I agree with some of the events throughout the novel, many I disagree with. I think Etienne made a wise choice in working at Le Voreux. If Etienne did not go down into the mines and observe the condition of the people that were working, then I believe there would not have been a revolution. “Just two loaves, Monsieur Maigrat. I’m a reasonable woman, I’m not asking for coffee or anything… Just two three-pound loaves a day.” Without Etienne, workers would have continued to work long hours of extremely physical work, and accept the bare minimum wages, enough to feed themselves and/or their families. In fact, the primary goal of these workers was to acquire food. Overall, I thought a revolution was necessary.
I disagreed with the Company’s decision to lower the wages of the workers. The men and women were suffering from starvation, straining their bodies to the bone, and were living in poorly constructed houses. The reason they lived like this was because of the iron law of wages. “Wage levels are fixed by the iron law of the irreducible minimum.” The Company kept the wages at the bare minimum in which the workers can eat, and reproduce. The Company was exploiting these miners who literally put spilled their blood and sweat just to suffer. The Company, knowing their workers were not living sufficiently, decided to lower
While the French revolution was a complete disaster in my opinion because two groups had different believes on political rights. It became so harsh that the kind died during the revolution that no one should be above the law the other group beliefs was when they finally won the revolution a lot of black slaves became free and considered as French citizens and that was great news to Toussaint and that a good think when u have a rebellion going on against slavery. Toussaint join the French to get help from the French since both had the same belief that all men should be created equal. Another great event that happened during the Haitian revolution is that Toussaint became governor of saint Dominque and that made the slaves holders very mad because a black male has risen to great power. Those key events are very important because now the Haitian and French revolution are now known as famous revolution of these great historic events and Haiti became the first free republic and humans right was given to all
When the French Third Estate stormed the Bastille in 1789, they envisioned a country in which they were no longer trodden upon by the First and Second Estates. They envisioned a nation where they had a major voice in politics and had a prominent role in the economy. By successfully overthrowing the French government and installing their own, they succeeded; albeit for only a short time. Little did they know that within a few decades, the same social hierarchy would be reinstalled during the Industrial Revolution, except the lower classes would be fighting for sanitation instead of bread. Over the course of the nineteenth century, various arguments emerged of how to improve the lives of European workers during the Industrial Revolution. Arguments
Throughout the Twentieth Century, the evolution of workers’ rights in the workplace has drastically evolved. Through the utilization of constitutional freedoms, workers across the nation came together to support the goal of receiving fair treatment from employers when it came to wages, work conditions, and benefits. However, this wasn’t achieved without great sacrifice from the average man as standing up for their rights was a brave act that usually resulted in consequences.
Companies began to compete against one another, as they tried to lower their prices and cut corners wherever possible. In result to this feud and competition the labourers were easily immune to losing their jobs. The workers and factory owners tried to settle on agreement towards wages, however this only brought forth further conflict between the groups. These conflictions soon affected the society as a whole causing instability to the nation and government. However, numerous historians were able to form rules and laws in order to stop the feud. French historian, Louis Blanc believed a reorganization of government was necessary to level out the economic injustices within the time of the Industrial Revolution. Written in his book entitled, The Organization of Labor, he explains some of his ideas. Specifically, “A systematic lowering of wages resulting in the elimination of a certain number of laborers is the inevitable effect of free competition. [...] Every member of the social workshops would have the right to use, according to his discretion, the profits of his labor; but it would not be long before the evident economy and the incontestable excellence of this communal life would call forth other voluntary associations among the workmen according to their needs and pleasure” ("Louis Blanc: The Organization of Labor (1840)"). More in depth, Blanc explains the reorganization needed in order
An increase in prices, a lack of capital, and billions of national debt naturally led to the revolution inevitable. France’s economical climate was greatly influenced by Britain’s control of the commercial market. In addition to adverse economical conditions, France had no central bank, no paper currency, and no means of obtaining more money, as their tax system really taxed the poor. Similar to the Russians, the French people realized that King Louis XVI was harming the country, and the three levels of class systems could not come to terms. Moreover, just like Bolsheviks were fighting with Anti-Bolsheviks, conflict between radical Jacobins and liberal Girondins and the significant Reign of Terror played a key role in leading to and sustaining the revolution.
There was a lot of inequality during the Pre-Revolution another example is on page 3 there I a peasant who is skin and bones representing the 3rd estate while the 1st and 2nd are on his back getting a free ride from the 3rd (Document 4a). The revolution ended up being successful after all because it ended the unfair tax burden on the third estate and made it so the 1st and 2nd had to pay taxes, when Napoleon made the Napoleonic Code. This made it so that the made it so that there is more equality between the Three
I decided to write about how I felt regarding the federal government's involvement in controlling the minimum wage and that I felt they are disconnected in their understanding of the impacts on communities when they raise the minimum wage. I work for a manufacturing company in the U.S. and I understand wholeheartedly what the impact of salary increases due to our bottom line. In very competitive markets the difference between success and failure can be separated by the difference of only a few dollars per part, and while in other countries, their manufacturing bottom line is subsidized by their governments we are forced to generate profits the old-fashioned way through supply and demand. This is why I decided to take a stance in my persuasive essay and challenge the status quo of the Department of Labor and Wages. No longer should the federal government dictate a national minimum wage but should allow each state to establish their own minimum wage based on the economic condition of their counties and their state, as a whole.
What is a revolution? By definition it means the overthrow of a government by those who are governed. That is exactly what the French and the Mexican revolutions were all about. The living conditions and overall treatment of the poor, pheasants, lower class, last man on the totem pole or what ever you want to call them, was a large factor in the coming of these revolutions. "Those who are governed" are exactly what the lower class people were. Also, liberty was one of the people's major concerns. They were ruled by men whose only desire was power and greed which is what led them into revolt.
The French Revolution evokes many different emotions and controversial issues in that some believe it was worth the cost and some don't. There is no doubt that the French Revolution did have major significance in history. Not only did the French gain their independence, but an industrial revolution also took place. One of the main issues of the Revolution was it's human costs. Two writers, the first, Peter Kropotkin who was a Russian prince, and the other Simon Schama, a history professor, both had very opposing views on whether the wars fought by France during the Revolution were worth it's human costs. Krapotkin believed that the French Revolution was the main turning point for not only France but for most
Before the time where an urge to revolt arose, the wealthy had the power. As part of their power, they had to keep things running smoothly. Unfortunately, their ideas of the world as a better place was making the working class do all the labor and in return giving them the least amount of reward possible so they could take most of the revenue into their own hands. The upper class made decisions for the feeble lower class and then it was up to these unstable people to produce the result desired. As far as the bourgeoisie were concerned, there was not anything wrong in the way they were going about life. This was one of the biggest problems at the time. The bourgeoisie
Berri's indictment of plight of the miners is at once simple and moving. While Zola's impassioned cry for social reform is at the heart of Germinal, the interactions of the individual characters represent the picture's soul, and lift it above other movies with similar messages.
Of the two books we 've read this semester, 'Germinal ' by Emile Zola is the best example of clearly establishing a theme and executing it in a concise way. Zola 's writing aptly establishes the point he 's trying to make, and does so in a way that the generational gap between himself and the modern reader(A.K.A our class) doesn 't affect the overall message of the story. His story expresses social inequality, class discrimination, and the inherent problems capitalism presents. These issues remain ever present over a hundred years later, albeit the severity has lessened to some degree, and Zola perfectly illustrates the struggles working-class people face in a manner that anyone can commiserate with. Through Etienne and the supporting cast of characters Zola shows revolution doesn 't fail, but it lays a seed that grows and changes over time and circumstance.
In the sociopolitical novel, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens analyzes the events of one of the bloodiest revolutions in history, the French Revolution, characterized by its violence after no less than 40,000 people were sentenced to death. The violence of the revolution put irreversible change into motion, helping to bring greater equality between French citizens as a result of the upheaval, and causing political changes that affected millions. Through his changing tone, Dickens conveys that rebellion is necessary to amend the ever-growing divide between the social classes, but the mindless nature of the violence, as a result of mob mentality, is excessive, and blood is unnecessarily spilled.
Not only did the bourgeoisie run the businesses, but also political matters. The power was shifting to the side of the owners, causing the gap between the proletariats and the bourgeoisie to grow bigger and bigger. The dominant force in Europe was actually creating a weapon without the realization of what they were doing. The labors, living conditions, and status of the proletariats created tension within the structure of the French society. The peasants even paid for the way of others, "it was on the peasants that all the abuses in the assessment
It is fairly apparent that a number of political overtones dominate Emile Zola's novel Germinal, which is the 13th book of nonfiction within the writer's Les Rougon-Macquart, a 20-volume series of novels. The author published this work of literature in 1885, less than 50 years after Marx and Engels unveiled the Communist Manifesto which was still plenty of time for a number of the ideologies propagated in this manuscript to take hold of popular culture and political theorists alike. In fact, one could successfully make a claim that the central theme of Germinal actually revolves around the conceptions of class antagonism that is an inherent part of an exploitative, bourgeois society such as that depicted in the French coal mining town in 1860, the setting for Germinal. A thorough analysis of this literary work illustrates that there are several instances of class antagonism, which are central to the plot of this book and provide its primary theme.