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Germinal
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Germinal The novel Germinal is about winning justice for workers who existed in conditions a little better than slavery. The novel begins in March of 1866. Late March early April together forms the revolutionary month called “Germinal” the month of germination. Germinal symbolizes the springtime of the social revolution, and it was the calendar used during the French revolution. Germinal is the month in which plants first begin to sprout from the ground. The image of this sprouting plant life is used throughout the novel particularly at the end to symbolize the increasing consciousness of the workers as they realize the reasons of their suffering and organize to do something about them. The novel displays a constant conflict between the wealthy mine owners and the poor mine workers. Zola makes it a point to compare the differences between the workers and the owners. Such as the Gregoires who don’t work but acquire everything and are wealthy, and the Maheu’s who work and have nothing to show for it. The majority of the conflict is seen through the eyes of the miners who struggle with everything from starvation to death to strikes and revolts. Zola himself states that the subject of Germinal is the revolt of the workers, the nudge given to society, which for a moment cracks, in a word the struggle between capital and labor.
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