Germinal; histoire dune lutte sociale

Among the authors who are involved in social problems and who tried to reflect them in their works, Emile Zola has a remarkable position. Germinal is one of the first books which drew social inequalities in french society. It is the story of a fight between the capital and the labor that is always under the yoke of its masters who do not stop exploiting it. The violence is the main element which reigns over all the novel and an essential factor which determines the life and the fate of the characters. It appears everywhere: in the family, in the work environments, etc. and the women suffer from it more than the men.