In one scene, coalminers shout "Bread! Bread! We want bread!" (265)- a cry that symbolized hunger of working classes and stressed the need for better wages and more humane treatment.
The character that I liked the most was that of Catherine, daughter of an experienced miner Maheu, because of her remarkable survivor streak and for her vulnerabilities. Catherine was woman of incredible strength as she opted for harsh conditions of the mines since she found them better than starvation and working in brothels. She felt it was more respectful to push the heavy coal wagon with her body "bent forward and the arms kept stiff, so that [she] could push with all the muscles of the shoulders and haunches" (53) than starving in sub-human conditions. The author has added strength and power to this otherwise diminutive figure. Highly effective is the scene when Catherine leaves for brutalizing work in coalmines: "she seemed like some little man" (Part I, Chapter 2). Catherine plays an extremely significant role in the novel. While she is strong-willed on the one hand, she has her share of vulnerabilities that keep her apart from Etienne, her lover. She also allows herself to be dominated by Chaval- one thing that many readers find rather perplexing. Her death also served a critical purpose and highlighted the real plight of coalminers during French industrialization.
In the book, a Life of Her Own, it is Emilie's relationship with her father that I found interesting and influential. The author talks compassionately about her father, Joseph Carles and believes that her true strength came from a positive relationship with him. Emilie seems to be on a higher wavelength than her siblings when it comes to understanding...
Emile Zola and Honere De Balzac were writers that embraced their century and time period. They wrote comprehensive histories of their respective contemporary societies. Although they share a similar interest in dissecting time throughout their novels, Emile shows a more modern take on time than does Honere De Balzac. In fact, his methodical approach to the social, moral, and sexual landscape of the late nineteenth century proves Zola as the
Emile Zola and the Movies The translation of any work of literature into another medium, even one apparently so closely aligned with the written word as film, is always a chancy proposition. While literature and film focus themselves on the same targets within the minds of their audiences; that of completing an organic connection between the conception and the reception of an idea, the very natures of the two disciplines demand
The puppets enable Fugui to regain his self-esteem and give him a sense of creativity, as he is now capable of articulating his thoughts through the puppets. He is able to make a better living as a traveling entertainer than as a seller of needles and thread. When it became too painful to live in his old town where he was once so wealthy, Fugui flees and goes on the
Gertrude Stein Indeed. Gertrude Stein wrote for "herself" for many years prior to ever being noticed as the marvelously talented and versatile writer that she was. That fact was a reality simply because she did not have the opportunity for many years to publish the work she was so tirelessly putting out. Meanwhile, her legacy today is that of an extraordinarily insightful and respected woman of letters, an innovator, an elite
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now