AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
FRANSISKA CHANDRA LEONITA
Student Number: 054214074
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
i
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
FRANSISKA CHANDRA LEONITA
Student Number: 054214074
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
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This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to:
M y beloved parents, L eonardus Sudarsono & M ariana
Nurmayanti
M y brother, Thomas Pandu Brahmantya
And le gagnant de mon coeur
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blessings, love, strength and guidance that really help me to pass through the hard time in finishing my study.
I would like to express my deep gratitude to my advisor, Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S, M. Hum. for her precious time, guidance, and supports that helped me in the process of writing my thesis. I thank my co-advisor, Tatang Iskarna S.S., M.Hum. for giving his precise correction and suggestion to improve my thesis writing. I also thank my thesis examiner Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum., for giving me questions and comments in the thesis defense. Thanks to all of the lecturers of the Departments of English Letters of Sanata Dharma University, for their gifts of the best knowledge I got during my study.
I must record my gratitude to my grandmother, Mbah Hadisumarto, who passed away. Thanks for the love, care, and patience in taking care of me while I lived in Yogyakarta.
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Hardian Putra Pratama, for the love, support, and care. Thank you for the encouragement he has given to me during the process of writing this thesis. He becomes a special gift from God to brighten the days.
My profound appreciations belong to my parents: Leonardus Sudarsono and Mariana Nurmayanti for their priceless love, care, patience, and supports to encourage me. Last but not least, my truly gratitude goes to everyone whom I cannot mention one by one for their involvement in the process of writing this thesis, thank you very much.
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1. Theories of Character & Characterization………. 9
2. Theory of Setting……….…….. 11
A. Descriptions of Characters & Settings……….. 31
1. Characters Description………... 31
a. The Working Class………. 32
b. The Bourgeois……… 40
2. Settings Description………... 44
B. The Oppressions Experienced by Working Class………... 47
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3. Economic Struggle………. 68
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION………. 74
BIBLIOGRAPHY………... 77
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Century France As Seen in Émile Zola’s . Yogyakarta: Department of
English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2009.
Class struggle is the reaction of a group of people to social conflicts such as social injustices and inhuman treatments that happen in a society. In class struggle, there are two sides that are opposed each other, which are working class and the bourgeoisie. The novel, Germinal, written by Émile Zola, is suitable to be the object of the study as the characters and setting in this novel depict the life of working class in dealing with the oppressions. A study on class struggle becomes an interesting topic to discuss. Class struggle shows the efforts of the working class in getting their rights and social welfare.
The aims of this research are to find out the description of working class and bourgeois through characters and settings description, to identify the oppressions experienced by the working class through the presentations of characters and settings, to find the reactions of the working class and identify the class struggle toward the bourgeois’ oppressions.
This study was conducted through library research by applying the data from books and internet sources. The theories of character, characterization, setting, Marxism theory: theory of oppression and class struggle, and review of life of the working class in France in the 19th century were applied in this thesis. The writer used sociocultural historical approach to identify the social and historical background in the society.
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Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2009.
Class struggle merupakan reaksi dari sekelompok masyarakat terhadap masalah sosial seperti ketidakadilan dan perlakuan yang tidak manusiawi dalam suatu masyarakat. Dalam class struggle, ada dua golongan yang bertentangan satu dengan yang lain, yakni golongan para pekerja dan golongan borjuis. Novel Germinal karya Émile Zola merupakan objek penelitian yang sesuai, karena karakter-karakter dan latar dalam novel menggambarkan dengan jelas kehidupan para perkerja yang tertindas. Studi tentang class struggle merupakan topik yang menarik untuk dibahas. Class struggle menunjukkan usaha-usaha yang dilakukan para pekerja dalam mencapai hak asasi dan kesejahteraan sosial.
Tujuan analisis ini adalah untuk mengetahui deskripsi karakter antara para pekerja dan borjuis serta latarnya, untuk mengidentifikasi penindasan-penindasan yang dialami oleh para pekerja dilihat dari karakter dan latar dalam novel, untuk mengungkap reaksi dan class struggle para pekerja terhadap penindasan-penindasan kaum borjuis.
Skripsi ini menggunakan metode studi pustaka dengan mengambil data dari buku-buku serta sumber internet. Teori tentang karakter, penokohan, latar, teori Marxism: tentang penindasan dan class struggle, serta ulasan tentang kehidupan para pekerja di Prancis abad ke 19 digunakan dalam mengerjakan analisis ini. Penulis menggunakan pendekatan sosio-kultural dan sejarah untuk mengetahui latar belakang di dalam masyarakat.
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Literature may become a reflection of the social condition. The social conditions that are reflected through the literary works can be in certain issues, but most of them indeed, deal with the conflicts in the society. A society may be divided into many classes based on the honor, the status, education, or properties they have. Langland states in his book, Society in the Novel, that “society in a literary works does not merely comprehend people and their classes but also to study upon their physical environment, their customs, culture, conventions, codes, norms, beliefs and values, religions and institution” (1984: 6).
By studying the elements of the society that Langland mentioned, it can be assumed that there are many differences on the elements that the society have in each class. Those differences will cause conflicts in the society, such as the injustices that are experienced by the lower class (working class); the low wages they earn as workers, inappropriate life, and the oppression from the middle and upper class or the bourgeoisies.
Due to the oppression from the upper class, then the class-consciousness of working class is stimulated to struggle in order to get social injustices and equality in the political-economical system. Marxism deals with this kind of issues, as stated in Peter Barry’s An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory,
progress toward the attainment of national identity and sovereignty) regards it as ‘motored’ by the competition for economic, social, and political advantage (Barry, 2002: 157).
Émile Zola’s Germinal, is a novel that reflects the social conflicts in French society, in which there are many social injustices and inequalities happen here. Germinal was written in 1880 and set in France in the 1860s. In this novel, the author depicts the struggle of a mining community which, facing a collapse in the market for coal (a symptom of European-wide post-war depression) chooses to respond to the threat of wage cuts by taking refuge in the revolutionary orations of a young outsider, Étienne, the central character of the novel, and striking. (http://mag.christis.org.uk/issues/52/germinal.html).
Fundamentally, this novel is a criticism toward bourgeois society in the late of nineteenth century. In one early chapter, Zola describes a family that is unable to find enough bread to eat, and this pathetic scene is swiftly followed by an account of an ostentatious banquet at the residence of the mine-owner. For the next chapter, Zola describes the system of working in the mining camp owned by the bourgeoisie and clearly describes the gap of social condition between miners and the mine-owner.
timbering work, and for coal dug out. Miners suspected it was a trick to reduce their payment, and went on strike. Zola also describes the brutalizing effects of women and children who are employed underground, to haul away the coal as the men dug it out. He is moved by the plight of pit ponies that lived permanently in the dark tunnels down the mine (http://www.gailanderson.org/2007/08/emile-zolas-germinal.html).
In writing this novel, Zola did researches. He interviewed miners and their families, visited their homes, went down a mine, and listened to strike meetings. He soon got the feeling of how the miners were permanently hungry, living brutish lives in overcrowded cottages, often diseased through dangerous working conditions, haunted by debt, insecurity, and the risk of total ruin by a disabling accident. They were scarcely educated, knew no other life, and had neither the energy, money nor organization to do anything about it. Their violence was usually aimless and ineffective. Their main escape was in sex and alcohol - in bars provided by the management to keep them permanentlystupefied.
The study about class struggle is interesting to discuss since the writer can explore the conflicts that happen in social classes that emerging struggle. This study reveals the realistic condition of the capitalism system that affects the working class life. The writer also wants to show the huge gaps between the haves and the have-nots in the society, especially in France in the 19th century when it is
may become a social criticism in French in the nineteenth century toward the bourgeois society. By discussing the topic about class struggle, the writer hopes that the thesis will contribute some knowledge about the awareness of reaching for the justice and human rights.
B. Problem Formulation
There are three problem formulations that are raised in this analysis. They are: 1. How are the settings and characters in Zola’s Germinal described?
2. What are the oppressions experienced by working class as reflected through the settings and characters?
3. What are the workers’ reactions to the oppressions they experienced?
C. Objectives of the Study
The objective here is the goal or aim concerned with the problem formulation. The aim of doing this thesis is to obtain a clear and satisfying explanation. The writer has three objectives or aims in doing this thesis. First aim is to find out the description of setting and historical background of the novel, and also the characters described by the author.
The third, the writer wants to find out the reaction of the workers toward the oppressions. The conflicts happen in the working class will cause struggle and labors’ strikes against the upper class. In this case, the writer wants to understand about the class struggle that appears as the impact of the oppressions.
D. Definition of Terms
To give a better understanding to the readers, the writer provides the definition of some terms used related to the topic in this thesis.
1. Bourgeoisie
This term comes from French. Campion Hall defined the bourgeoisie is the class of the owners of the basic means of production, which lives by exploiting the hired labour of the workers. It is the ruling class of capitalist society (1963: 154). Bourgeoisie was originally the name for the inhabitants of walled towns in medieval France; as artisans, the bourgeoisie occupied a socioeconomic position between the peasants and the proprietors in the countryside (http://www.answers.com/topic/bourgeoisie-proletariat).
2. Working Class
politically, the working class or the proletariat are dominated by the ruling class – the bourgeoisie (Wilczynski, 1981: 645).
3. Class Struggle
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CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
This chapter consists of some reviews related on the novel that will be discussed. The reviews may come from related studies and critiques toward the novel and the author, Émile Zola. The writer also provides some theories that latter will help the writer answering the problems formulated in the previous chapter. Therefore, it is important to comprehend and understand the literary reviews and theories before analyzing the work.
A. Review of Related Studies
There are some critiques and comments on Zola and his work Germinal, after it was published. Gail Anderson gave comment to Zola’s description of the plot. He was impressed about how Zola creates a novel as he created a series of paintings that beg the reader to visualize the settings. Gail stated that the setting was like when visiting a museum, first it is seen a beautiful but haunting painting of the early-spring landscape (April, or the germinal month), treeless with ugly slagheaps, smoke that curls into the grey sky, and grey figures that are but shadows trudging their way to the mine. It is a beautifully wrought but haunting landscape.
within the working mine. They bond because they suffer together. And the next painting, shows several miners at work. Their shirts are off and their bodies are glistening with sweat. The air outside is cold, but in this living hell, temperatures rise dramatically. Their arms and shoulders which have worked in the mines for all their lives should be strong and steady. Instead, they seem weak and exhausted (http://www.gailanderson.org/2007/08/emile-zolas-germinal.html).
In this case, Zola had special strength in visualizing the characters and setting in the novel, his output is staggering, considering the depth of his characters, descriptions, and actions portrayed in his work.
Havelock Ellis also stated in the introduction part of Germinal, that the book was produced when Zola had at length achieved the full mastery of his art and before his hand had, as in his latest novels, begun to lose its firm grasp. The subject lent itself, moreover, to his special aptitude for presenting in vivid outline great human groups, and to his special sympathy with the collective emotions and social aspirations of such groups. We do not, as so often in Zola's work, become painfully conscious that he is seeking to reproduce aspects of life with which he is imperfectly acquainted, or fitting them into scientific formulas which he has imperfectly understood. He shows a masterly grip of each separate group, and each represents some essential element of the whole; they are harmoniously balanced, and their mutual action and reaction leads on inevitably to the splendid tragic dose, with yet its great promise for the future.
We also see conditions of recruiting and working, the risks taken by employees and the true dangers of the job but also the eventual diseases that workers can catch. The conditions of lodging are also an interesting point and you can clearly see the bunch of minors is coordinated by the paternalism of the company. The promiscuity in which the minors live is quite real and shows the fine bond or even differences occurring among the nest. The book reveals the origins of the strike and the major causes, how the mining company is intending to face it. The policy of minors, what they want to get and how they want to lead the strike and make the management give them what they request.
(http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/germinal.html)
The above reviews will help the writer in analyzing the historical background of the characters, including the setting that influences them. As some critics said that Zola describe the setting as if the reader is involved and imagining the social condition by the represented visualization.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Character & Characterization
Richard Gill stated on his book, Mastering English Literature Second Edition, that “a character is someone in literary work who has some sort of
identity, an identity which is made up by appearance, conversation, action, name and thoughts going on in the head” (1995: 127). In this case, each character in the story has their own identities and different personalities based on the way the author characterized them. The characters are made up by appearance, action, and conversation, meaning that they are come from author’s depiction and important because of their role in the story by their actions, conversations, and thoughts. Character in the story actually has the important role to bring the plot of the story.
has different types of person (1981: 20). In order to understand the plot of the story, we need to know the characters told in the story; the name and the role of the characters. Abrams gives definition of characters in which they can be recognized by their attitude and personal qualities. In this case, the moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in the dialogue (what they say) and the action (what they do). By those, the person in the literary work can be decided what sort of person he is and distinguishes one person to another. Moreover, the character may have stability in his attitude and his qualities of mind from the beginning to the end of a work or he may have a change through a gradual development or due to the extreme crisis (Abrams, 1981: 21).
According to Holman and Harmon in A Handbook to literature, there are two kinds of character. They are static and dynamic character. A static character is limited in changes. The action and experience of a static character are limited and has a little bit change. A dynamic character has more changes than static one. It changes the characteristic or personally by actions or experiences that influence to change. The characteristic of a person may change in the end of the story because of the influenced condition or he will not change at all through the whole story (1986: 83).
Dramatic, means to place the person in situations to show what he/she is in the
way he/she behaves or speaks (1971:20).
Another theory to understand the way characters described is stated by Murphy in Understanding Unseen. First is personal description, in which the author describes the appearance of the characters from many sides. The reader will know about the character from his/her build, skin-color, hair, hands, face, and other personal aspects. Second way is characters as seen by another. The reader will understand the character through another character’s perception and opinions. The third is speech. The reader will understand a character from his saying, whenever character has conversation and gives opinions. The fourth way is past life. The author gives description about the past event of the character that can
help to shape a person’s character. The author can use direct comment through the person’s thought, through his conversation, and through the medium of another person. The fifth is conversation of others. The character is described through the conversation of other people and the things they say about the character. The sixth way is reactions of the character whenever he/she is facing the situation. The seventh is direct comment from the author to characters. The eighth way is thoughts. In this way, the author gives direct knowledge of what a person is
thinking about. The last is mannerism in which the reader will understand the character from his/her manners, habits and behavior (Murphy, 1972: 161-173).
2. Theory of Setting
where the story happens. According to Robert Stanton in his book, An Introduction to Fiction, setting is the environment of the moment where the
moment happens (1965: 18-19). Setting can be introduced with the time of day ore year, the climate or the historical period. The setting (environment and condition in the story) also can influence the characters build in the story. It helps shaping the character by the events happens in the story and other social circumstances.
Another explanation of setting is stated by William Kenney in How to Analyze Fiction. He determined the elements of setting, which are:
i. The actual geographical location, including topography, scenery, even the detail of room’s interior.
ii. The occupation and modes of day-to-day existence of the character.
iii. The time in which the action of character takes place, e.g. historical period. iv. The religious, moral, intellectual, social, and emotional environment of the
characters (Kenney, 1986: 40).
3. Marxism Theory
Marxism is a theory that was found by Karl Marx. Marx was a German philosopher and he was a great influential philosopher in the history of philosophy. Marxism is a theory based on a materialistic interpretation of the world history, which posits that the course of history is determined by a series of class struggle, that progress in a dialectical process (1995: 534).
Marxism sees progress through struggle for power between different social classes. The struggle can be motored by the competition for economic, social and political advantage (Barry, 2002: 157).
Marxism theory is actually associated with the idea of oppression by the bourgeoisie and the conflicts happen because of the oppression in society will cause the class struggle emerges. Therefore, the understandings of oppression and class struggle are needed and significant in this chapter.
a. Theory of Oppression
Oppression exists when one group is being dehumanized by another group or dominant group. This concept may imply injustice, because one places a heavy burden on the other one and it relates to the discrimination, degradation, exclusion, exploitation and dehumanization of the oppressed group (Becker, 1992: 921). The examples of the minority group or oppressed group are people of different color like African American; women (biological sex); gay, lesbian and bisexual people (sexual orientation or identity); working class and poor people (class); immigrants (ethnicity or national origin). And the example of dominant group or oppressor group are white people, people of European (race, ethnicity, national origin); males (biological sex); heterosexuals (sexual orientation or identity); middle and owning class (class).
The form of oppression can be said to operate on four distinct levels, they are the personal, the interpersonal, the institutional, and societal or cultural level:
ii. The interpersonal level: the interpersonal level is manifested when a bias affects relation among individuals, transforming prejudice into its active component—discrimination.
iii. The institutional level: it refers to the ways in which governmental agencies; businesses; and educational, religious, and professional organizations systematically discriminate against target group (minority group).
iv. The societal level: the societal or cultural level refers to social norms or codes of behavior that work within a society to legitimize prejudice and discrimination (Roth, 1995: 632).
There are some reasons why the oppression happens to the minority group. First, actually the oppressor wants to gain or enhance economic, political, or personal rewards or to avoid potential loss of such. Second, they want their own value system to be promoted or enhanced, and protect self-esteem against psychological doubts or conflicts. Third, they want to comprehend better the complex world by categorizing and stereotyping others (Roth, 1995: 633).
In socialists’ conception of oppression, it relates to inequality, especially inequality of property. Karl Marx held that property owners necessarily exploited propertyless workers.
The state’s coercive power was necessary to maintain the exploitation of subordinate classes by the dominant classes. This system constituted oppression. In the Marxist tradition, however, oppression also connotes degradation and repression of human development (Becker, 1992: 923).
b. Theory of Class Struggle
it to a class struggle. Mayo stated in his book Introduction to Marxist Theory, that class struggle is a human or social expression of the conflict of economic forces with legal forms (Mayo, 1960: 93).
Classes are divided into basic and non-basic classes according to the place they occupy in society. In slave society, the basic classes are those of the slave owners and slave, in feudal society those of the feudals and peasants, in bourgeois society those of the capitalists and workers. Then, these are classes one of which is the owner of the basic means of production and exercises power, while the other constitutes the basic mass of the exploited. The relation between these classes always remains antagonistic, based on conflicting interests (Hall, 1963: 153).
For example, the capitalist has an interest in compelling the worker to produce as much as possible while paying him as little as possible. The incompatibility of economic interests between antagonistic classes given rise to an implacable struggle between them. As in Manifesto of the Communist Party, Marx and Engels stated,
Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journey-man, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes (1959: 46).
There are various forms of class struggle of the proletariat explained in Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism, in reaching the social welfare; they are
i. Economic struggle
The economic struggle is that waged for improving the workers’ condition of life and labour: increased wages, a shorter working day, etc. The most widespread method of economic struggle is for the workers to state their demands and to carry out strikes if these demands are not satisfied. The working class creates trade unions, mutual assistance funds and other organization to defend its economic interests (Hall, 1963: 164).
However, economic struggle has definite limitation. Since it does not affect the foundations of the capitalists system it cannot bring satisfaction of the workers’ basic economic interest, it cannot free them of exploitation. Moreover, the successes of economic struggle cannot be all secure, if they are not reinforced by political gains. The bourgeoisie will seize every chance of withdrawing its concessions and launching an offensive against the economic interests of the working class.
ii. Ideological struggle
The oppression and exploitation that the working class gets actually bring them to the awareness of feeling discontent as they constantly encounter facts of injustice and economic and social inequality, and also bring them to a spontaneous protest and indignation. However, such feelings still do not amount to an awareness of class interests.
Further, the workers’ class consciousness means their understanding that the interests of all the workers of any particular country are identical, that they all constitute one class, separate form all the other classes in society. Finally, the class consciousness of the workers means the workers’ understanding that to achieve their aims they have to work to influence affairs of the state (Hall, 1963: 166).
The best school of class consciousness for the workers is the day-to-day struggle, including the struggle for their immediate interest. For the working class to reach a high level of class consciousness a special, ideological form of struggle is needed. The ideological struggle of the proletariat involves the working out of a world outlook, a scientific theory which will show the working class the path to liberation.
iii. Political Struggle
Lenin also said that, “it is not enough, that the class struggle becomes real, consistent and developed only when it embraces the sphere of politics”. The class struggle is being fully developed, only when it not merely embraces politics but when it goes to the very core of politics, in this case the system of state power (p.97-98).
Economic and ideological forms of struggle are not an aim in themselves; both of them are subordinate to workers’ higher, political aims and tasks, to their political struggle, which alone can secure the basic economic need of the working class freedom from exploitation. The aims and methods of political struggle demand different, higher forms of working-class organization, above all the creation of a political party of the proletariat.
C. Review on Life of the Working Class in France in the Nineteenth Century
1. The French Worker in the Provinces
Paris, for workers in the nineteenth century France, was a place where work could almost always be found. Whether skilled or unskilled, most workers migrated to Paris when work needed to be found. This is not to say however that work in the provinces was hard to find or that workers forgot their provincial backgrounds. Aside from agriculture (which still dominated the countryside of France), there were cities in the provinces where work could often be found if one was willing to travel. Often workers returned to their hometowns to spend time with their families.
nature of the work changed. Work in the provinces was no longer dependent on a floating skilled work force that migrated according to season. With the development of industrialization, we see the decline of agriculture and skilled labor in the provinces and the rise of unskilled factory workers. The decline in the condition of these workers is seen. This led to frustrations among the working classes all over France (http://www.uky.edu/~popkin/frenchworker/chilton.htm).
Norbert Truquin and Jeanne Bouvier stated in The French Worker: Autobiographies from the Early Industrial Era, that it was a very difficult life for
male, female, and child unskilled laborers in the provinces. Starvation was always just around the corner for many of these workers. Often economic downturns were worse for the provinces. The lives of unskilled laborers could thus be very harsh because they had little to no bargaining power against the employer. Often when laborers did unite with grievances, the local government turned them away because the factory owner held more sway over their decisions.
Truquin became particularly hostile towards the government and the ownership of the silk industry in Lyon when the political upheaval of 1871 was followed by an economic depression during the 1880’s. It is no surprise that socialism became as popular in the provinces as in Paris (Traugott, 1993: 250-308; 336-382).
2. Relations among Workers
fighting hard to find different ways to gain respect from their masters, looking for better working and living conditions, and therefore gaining power as a working class. However, there was also competition among them because of high unemployment rates and the difficulties of surviving. There were some very competitive workers due to the lack of jobs and the difficulty of surviving (Traugott, 1993: 137).
Overall, the relations among workers of the nineteenth century varied depending on the circumstances each worker lived under. Nevertheless, the relations among workers were mostly focused on friendship and the desire to persevere through difficult times together. Together, they organized many strikes in order to be heard by their masters and gain some power within society. Most of them had the same ideals: freedom for the workers, better standards of living and working conditions.
3. Relations with Employers
The masters from the city were upset that their competitors were hiring their former workers. The masters agreed to a 3 franc increase per dozen of chairs that were produced. Many of the workers decided to move back. The increase in pay lasted only a short while, and once the market slowed down the masters took back the raise.
The workers were told that this increase was only temporary, but it was not. The masters were also forcing their workers to perform unpaid tasks. There was a push to eliminate the unpaid tasks, but it failed. From this view, the workers were the victims. The masters were taking advantage of the workers and rarely
were they willing to compromise
(http://www.uky.edu/~popkin/frenchworker/duncan.htm).
4. Relations with Government
Despite this, the French government made a few efforts to alleviate the burdens of the French working class. These laws were, however, rarely enforced, allowing the factories to take advantage of workers, especially working women and children. A law passed in 1841 limiting children under 12 to an eight-hour workday.
The French government also failed to provide workers with any type of social protection or insurance. Working families were often devastated by work-related injuries, while workers never received compensation for lost wages. French worker Martin Nadaud, for example, endured a debilitating injury while working as a mason. According to Nadaud, his father was overcome with anger because his family was facing possible financial ruin as a result of his injury. Further, workers were not assisted in the event of sudden unemployment and no type of security or insurance was offered by the laissez-faire government. In comparison, workers in the neighboring Bismarckian Germany were granted a range of worker protection programs like unemployment benefits and accident insurance in the late nineteenth century. The French working class, however, worked for lower wages and endured more deplorable working conditions, but the government failed to effectively address these issues and improve conditions for the working class (http://www.uky.edu/~popkin/frenchworker/wells.htm).
5. Pay and Working Conditions in the 19th Century France
factors that played a very important role in deciding a worker’s pay. Level of skill was very important, as there was a major difference between skilled and unskilled workers. However, even skilled workers were not well paid and could not earn enough to rise to a higher social level. Intense gender discrimination also played an important role in these times. Working women were almost always paid significantly less than men (1993: 134)
In studying working conditions of 19th century France, it is once again
apparent that there exists a great disparity in how people perceived their situation. Many workers labored in dangerous conditions that were detrimental to their health. In reading all the autobiographies, the workdays were also very long. Most workers began their day at around 5 am and usually finished around 8 or 9 pm with an hour break for lunch(1993: 136).
There is a strong correlation once again between level of skill, gender, and associations when considering working conditions. The higher the skill of a worker, the more indispensable he became to the employer and thus the employer would take care not to abuse his workers. In relation to gender, though women often worked the same hours as men, they were often confined to housework but many worked in factories in deplorable conditions. Therefore, women were often less exposed to dangerous working conditions. In conclusion, there is no one way of describing the pay and working conditions in 19th century France. However, it
is clear that workers life in 19th century France were very difficult due to long
6. Housing Conditions of French Workers
Housing conditions for French workers during the early industrial era were significantly different from conditions of today’s workers. Living conditions for early French industrial workers were extremely unpleasant and far from a relaxing escape after a rigorous day’s work. By examining the lives of four different workers during the early industrial era in France we can get a better understanding of how bad the housing conditions actually were. Home for an early French worker meant a crowded and unsanitary dwelling where workers would return after their long day of work. Housing conditions were often cramped, with poor lighting and poor sanitation. There was no running water or indoor plumbing, which meant the nearest restroom was a good distance away, outside in the cold air.
Conditions for all French workers during this time period were harsh, but often varied from worker to worker. Migrant workers often rented a room in boarding houses similar to dormitories. Migrants would share a room with around twelve other workers and sleep on hard plank beds. Established workers in the area were more likely to live in apartments on top floors of old stone buildings in the city, consisting of one or two rooms that they shared with another family or other workers.
7. Sickness and Death
they earned to pay for housing, food, and family. Nineteenth century French workers faced numerous difficulties in their everyday lives. Sickness and death during this time only contributed to the problems. Not only did recovering preoccupy the workers who fell sick; they were faced with the issue of paying for their family, food, and board. On top of those worries, they still had to find more work after they recovered. If the workers did not recover, the agony of their death fell on their relatives, who had to pay for the expenses of burial, but also had to take on the added responsibilities in the family. Both of these, sickness and death, created more stress in an already trying and difficult life.
D. Theoretical Framework
Those theories and reviews will help the writer to solve the problems formulated in problem formulation. In this thesis, the writer wants to identify the experience of working class by using the theory of character and characterization. It is important to understand the role of character in the story. The use of theory of setting is also important to understand the condition and social circumstances that influence the characters’ development and indicate the working class under the oppression.
Marxist theory is very important in this study, as the theory will help the writer to be open-minded about the social class and conflict among them. This theory is used to analyze the process of oppression of the working class and the process of struggle and its rising.
27 CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study used by the writer in this analysis is a novel entitled Germinal. This novel was written between April 1884 and January 1885 by Émile Zola and printed as a book and published in French, March 1885, then continued published with English translation, in 1954. The novel had been translated in over one hundred countries as well as inspiring five film adaptations and two TV productions. This novel was translated by Leonard Tancock and published by Penguin Classics in 1954. Germinal consists of 499 pages. This novel is divided into 7 parts. Germinal was also made into a movie in 1993, directed by Claude Berri. At that time, Germinal was the most expensive feature film ever made in France.
The novel depicted a human exploitation in mining company in which the workers did not have prosperities for their life because of the wage cut system by the bourgeois. The sufferings made them aware to strike and revolt to the capitalist system and the bourgeois. Moreover, the condition became worse as the French coal industry was struck by a crisis in which America had stopped importing massive quantities of steel to build its railroads, which had the effect of lessening the demand for coal to manufacture the steel. The condition discouraged the labors and made them to be pessimistic about the success of the struggle because it brought them to the starvation.
B. Approach of the Study
In this thesis, the writer uses sociocultural historical approach. The point of a sociocultural historical approach is seeing a literary work from its relation with the social history of a certain time and place. The social-cultural historical approach is an approach in examining a literary work using reference of the civilization of which the attitudes and actions of a specific group of people become the subject matter (Rohrberger & Woods, 1971: 9-11). The specific group in this thesis will be a group of miners as the subject matter because they experience social conflicts.
difficulties in understanding the work, because literary work maybe based on certain cultures and history.
C. Method of the Study
The writer employed library research as a method of gathering sources in this study. There are two types of sources used in this study. The primary source is the novel Germinal by Émile Zola. While, the secondary sources for this study are some books about theory of literature, theory of critical approaches of literature, and other essays and references related on class struggle explored from library and the internet.
In this study, the analysis of the research, first of all, started with the reading of the novel, for many times in order to understand and to comprehend the story. Furthermore, by seeing the details of the story, the process of the analysis will be more profound.
The analysis would be conducted by applying the data, information, and the theories of character, characterization, and setting. This thesis used a sociocultural historical approach to identify the social and historical background in the society. Moreover, the approach was also appropriate to be combined with the class struggle and social conflicts as Marxism concerned on the social issues in a society.
theories would help the researcher comprehends the class differences that caused conflicts and the emergence of the class struggle in the society.
31 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
In this chapter, the three questions that are proposed in the problem formulation in chapter one will be answered and discussed clearly. Firstly, it will discuss about the setting and characters in the novel. Secondly, this chapter will discuss about the oppressions towards working class seen through characters and setting description. The last, it will discuss about the reactions of the workers toward the oppressions that emerge class struggle as its impact.
A. The Description of Characters and Settings
1. Characters Description
The characters in the novel are divided into two types, they are minor and major character, as major character usually plays big role in the novel. The main character in this novel is Étienne Lantier as he gives influences to the plot and other characters of the novel. For the minor characters are the rest, which are Maheu, La Maheude (Maheu’s wife), Bonnemort, Maigrat, Chaval, Monsieur Gregoire, and others.
a. The Working Class
i. Étienne Lantier
Étienne is the central character in this novel. He is a young man with a desire of working. He comes from Marchienes and moves to Montsou to look for a new job in the Voreux mining company. He lost his job as an engine-man in the railway.
“My name is Étienne Lantier and I am a mechanic. Any work going here?” young man said.
“Work for a mechanic? No. Two of them tried yesterday. No, nothing doing.” (Zola, 1954: 20-21).
At first, Étienne is refused to work in the mining camp, but finally the manager accepts him to work in the pit: “When Étienne arrived everything was fixed up: thirty sous a day, hard work but easy to pick up” (Zola, 1954: 43).
Étienne becomes a good hard worker in the mining camp and he is adored by other labors and his friends in the mining camp because of his thoughts and good works. Maheu, a miner who has worked for a long time in the pit, respects Étienne and Maheu is proud of him. He is smart because he reads and writes a lot. Maheu will think that he is better educated than himself.
After two weeks he passed for one of good haulage men. He never complained even when he was gasping with fatigue; he was probably too proud. He was accepted and looked upon as a real miner. Maheu in particular took to Étienne, for he respected good workmanship: he saw him read, write, sketch plans, and heard him discuss things which he did not even know existed (Zola, 1954: 139).
camp, he cannot restrain his anger to one of labors, Chaval, as they have different arguments.
“So you are a mechanic, and your railway sacked you. Why?” “Because I hit my chief.”
All her inherited ideas of subordination and passive obedience were turned upside down, and she remained speechless. “Mind you, I had been drinking,” he went on, “and when I drink I go mad, fit to do myself in and everybody else too.” (Zola, 1954: 56).
Even though Étienne has bad tempered, he reaches popularity as he has ambition and bravery that can bring his friends in the mining camp to get up and have revolutionary to change their condition. He spreads his thought and makes the workers think and act to change their life. In this case, he is very clever in influencing the miners.
ii. Maheu
Maheu is a protagonist character that supports character Étienne. Maheu is a labor in the mining company and he has worked for long time. He has a family. Zola often describes Maheu’s family in the novel, as this family experiences the oppressions much. Maheu is a good worker and well reputable among his friends because he works hard in the pit. The owner also trusts him as best worker as he has worked in the mining camp for a long time and been loyal to the owner: “Maheu was the best collier in the pit, the most popular, the most respected, the one everybody quoted as an example of good sense” (Zola, 1954: 210).
Maheu has to work very hard to earn money to fulfill the needs of his family. Therefore, it is very possible that his children also work to earn more money.
However, even though the children work, the money is still not enough to buy stocks for the whole persons in the family.
“Eh? You know I haven’t a penny and this is only Monday: still six days before the fortnight’s out. You, all of you, only bring in nine francs!” said La Maheude.
“Oh! Nine francs!” exclaimed Maheu. “I and Zacharie three: that makes six, Chaterine and father two: that makes four: for and six, ten, and Jeanline one, that makes eleven.”
“Yes, but there are Sundays and the off-days. Never more than nine, you know!” replied Maheude (Zola, 1885: 16). long enough, and they would be more likely to listen to an old hand who had always lived there.
“But I could never do it,” stammered Maheu. “I should say something silly.”
Étienne patted him on the shoulder, glad to have made him accept. “Just say what you feel, it’ll be all right!” (Zola, 1954: 210).
iii. La Maheude
La Maheude is Maheu’s wife. She is thirty years old. Zola describes La Maheude as a rigid woman but patient. She is endurable, as she has to take care of her seven children. Maheude does not work in the mining camp anymore because she has to take care of the babies, Henri and Estelle, at home. Furthermore, there is also something wrong with her health.
“So you have been working in the mines a long time?”
“Oh yes, oh yes! I was down there till I was twenty. When I had my second baby, the doctor warned me I would stay for good because something was misplaced in my innards, it seemed. I got married just then and I had enough to do at home.” (Zola, 1954: 99).
La Maheude is also a tough woman. It is seen when one day she has to let her children, Zacharie and Catherine, leave the house. This becomes a new burden for her and the family, because Catherine and Zacharie will not earn money for the family anymore but only for themselves as they decide to live with their lovers.
… it was a day lost, and now that she (Catherine) had a lover the girl did not want a change. Her eldest had left them and the old man had lost the use of his legs: it would soon mean death for them all (Zola, 1954: 182). This makes Maheude that is unable to work anymore in the mining camp helping her husband, becoming a beggar to get some breads and money to buy food: “Her eyes filled with tears, and she felt confident of getting the five francs” (Zola, 1954: 98-99). The quotation shows her incapability to get charities in bourgeois’ house. This will never end, before the voice of the workers comes out to take them out of the sufferings.
In the early chapter of the novel, Maheude is described as a passive character which only can face her fate. However, in the last chapter she begins to change as an ambitious woman that wants to get her goal. This even makes Étienne thinks that Maheude has changed terribly.
He tried to explain, but she would not let him speak.
“So we have starved for two months, and I have sold my home and my children are ill, all to no purpose! And the same old injustice would start all over again! Oh! The very thought if it is enough to give you a fit! No, no, now I would burn everything and kill everybody rather than give in.” (Zola, 1954: 376).
Étienne feels something burst in Maheude thinking. She is so different from the beginning when Étienne meets her. She had been so sensible and used to blame Étienne for being violent, and now she is refusing to listen to reason and talking of killing people.
Instead Étienne, it is she who is talking politics, wanting to sweep the bourgeois away at one blow, demanding the republic guillotine to rid the earth of these wealthy robbers grows fat on the toil of the starving masses (Zola, 1954: 377).
iv. Bonnemort
Bonnemort has worked for Voreux mining company for fifty years but his life never changes better.
“Have you been working in the pit for long?”, asked Étienne.
“For long? I should say so. I was eight when I first went down – it was in Le Voreux, as a matter of fact – and now I am fifty eight.” (Zola, 1954: 25).
Bonnemort has done everything in his time. When he first went down to the pit, he became a pit-boy, then haulage man when he was strong enough to push, then when he was eighteen years old he became a collier. In his age, he is recommended by the mine-owner to retire, but it does not happen, as he cannot get any money but a few pension funds. Moreover, he has perished legs that the doctor recommends him to stay at home.
“And anyway I’m pretty tough, apart from my legs. You see, I’ve been soaked with water down in the workings that it has got under my skin. Some days I can’t move my foot without shooting out.” (Zola, 1954: 25). Bonnemort is ill over a long period. There is a serious problem with his lungs as he coughs often. This does not turn him from keep working in the pit as haulage men.
He coughed, scraping hawk which seemed to tear out his inside and then sat by the side of the fire. It turned the ground black. “They say I’ve got to rest, but I’m not having any. What do they take me for? No, I shall stick it out another two years till I’m sixty,” he went on (Zola, 1954: 25).
v. Rasseneur
Zola described Rasseneur as a heavily built man of thirty-age years old. He had a round, clean-shaven face, good-natured and smiling. Rasseneur is a friend of Maheu. He used to be as a miner same with Maheu, but the Company had dismissed him because he had been following the strike three years before. He is so smart and able to speak well that makes him become a leader when any complaints had been voiced.
“Yes, I am referring to Rasseneur, whom we had to get rid of to save our pits from socialist corruption. You are always at his place, and no doubt it is he who has urged you to start up this provident fund.” (Zola, 1954: 215).
In this case, the Company faulted at him to be the cause of the last revolt in the mining company. However, though he was dismissed from the pit, he still has a bar in Montsou and he earns money by keeping it with his wife: “he raised some money and planted his pub right opposite Le Voureux as a gesture of defiance to the Company” (Zola, 1954: 76). Therefore, now his house is prosperous and he becomes a rallying-point, thriving on the resentments he has slowly kindled in the hearts of his former mates.
Maheu brings Étienne to Rasseneur’s pub to find him a lodge to stay. Rasseneur refuses him as Étienne is a foreigner that he had known before, but after finding out that Étienne knows Pluchart, a friend of Rasseneur who is also an activist in socialism, he welcomes Étienne in his house.
Rasseneur examined him afresh, and a rapid change came over his face, a sudden look of sympathy. Then he spoke to his wife:
In the middle part of the novel, Rasseneur and Étienne are getting close each other. They talk much about the plan to revolt; however, Rasseneur is much more arguing because he disagrees with Étienne’s political thinking and idea. First, he supports Étienne, but finally he opposes Étienne because he thinks that what Étienne does will not bring his friends, the labors, to a better life, but even worse.
vi. Chaval
Chaval is also a labor in Voreux mining company. He is a man of twenty-five, tall, thin, bony with strong features. Chaval is desirous of possessing Catherine, Maheu’s daughter. However, he treats ladies disrespectfully, especially to Catherine. Most of the miners do not like Chaval because he is rude and easily getting angry.
Chaval had brought her into the Réquillart ruins. “Oh no! Oh no! Let me go, please!” She was seized by the terror of the male, that fear which makes a girl instinctively tense her muscles in self-protection. He said no more, but seized her in his strong arms and threw her into the shed. She fell back on the coils of rope and gave up the struggle (Zola, 1954: 133). This quotation shows that Chaval wants to rape Catherine but she is too weak to defend. Chaval often treats Catherine badly. This makes Chaval has bad reputation among the other labors, especially in Maheu’s family.
Chaval had kept her, threatening to beat her if she ran away. Chaval was now mad with jealousy, and wanted to prevent her from going back into Étienne’s bed where he knew her family put her (Zola, 1954: 183).
Because of his jealousy to Étienne, he asks Catherine to live with him and works in other mining company at Jéan Bart. Here, Chaval treats Catherine more harshly.
Chaval becomes a man who is not in one way of thinking with other labors. When the idea of going to struggle appears, he does not go with the miners. This happens because the idea emerges from Étienne, the man he dislikes, then he does not want to follow him. It can be seen from the middle to the last chapter of the novel, and will be discussed in the last subchapter of this thesis.
b. The Bourgeoisie
i. Maigrat
Zola puts characters in this novel mostly for characters of working class. However, he puts also some characters for the upper class, in this case, the bourgeois. Maigrat is actually included as a working class, because at first he is a have-not worker; he does not own the mining camp but working for the bourgeois in the mining company. Because he is loyal to the company and obedient to the company’s rule, then he quits the job in the mining camp when the company gives him supplies to open a big shop. Now, he becomes rich and also belongs to a group of bourgeois.
a store, a long building, opening on to the road, like a shop without windows. He stocks everything: grocery, provisions, greengrocery; he sells bread, beer, pots and pans (Zola, 1954: 95).
Before he begins to open the shop, he formerly became an inspector at Le Voreux, he had set up in business with a small canteen, and then, thanks to official protection, his trade had grown and grown until it had killed the small shops in Montsou.
He combined everything under one roof, and his large number of customers from the industrial villages to undercut and give more credit. Incidentally, he was still in the Company’s power, for they have built his little house and shop for him (Zola, 1954: 96).
This quotation shows that Maigrat has close relationship with the bourgeois rather than the workers. It makes the workers hate him; moreover, he has brought them to a deeper suffering, for the high debts from the credit that Maigrat gives.
Zola described Maigrat as static character. He does not change during the story. He becomes an evil man that torments the workers with the debts and his stinginess. In the end of the story, Maigrat finishes his life. He dies in his shop for his greediness, being mutilated by the women workers in Montsou.
ii. Monsieur Grégoire
They still satisfied her every whim: a second horse, two more carriages, dresses from Paris. As nothing was too good for their daughter, this outlay was an additional pleasure (Zola, 1954: 86).
However, Monsieur Grégoire is not worried with his wealth, as he earns much money in a year. His life and the family are fulfilled with luxuries and joy.
It begins when he was still very young, he was inherited a denier in the Montsou mines and he married his wife. His wife was also inherited from an uncle the little concession of Vandame, in which there were only two pits working, Jean-Bart and Gaston-Marie, and these were disrepair. Monsieur Grégoire dreams to repair it, modernize the plant and widen the shaft. Then blessings rain on his house: “The Grégoire’s fortune, worth some forty thousand francs a year, was all invested in shares in the Montsou mines” (Zola, 1954: 84).
Monsieur Grégoire is a little bit stingy. He does not want spend any penny only for the workers that begging in his house. He rather gives things than money. It happens to Maheude, when she goes to Monsieur Grégoire’s house and begs for some francs to buy breads, she does not get it from him.
“We are very hard up,” stammered Maheude; “if only we had a five-franc piece….”
Cécile glanced anxiously at her father, but he refused point-blank with the air of doing a painful duty.
“No, it is not our custom. It can’t be done.”
Cécile was touched by the mother’s tragic face and wished to do all she could for the children. They were starring at the brioche. She cut two pieces and gave them one each.
“Look! This is for you.” (Zola, 1954: 101).
live on the work of others – in fact, you are the accursed capitalist, and that is enough.” (Zola, 1954: 206).
iii. Monsieur Hennebeau
Monsieur Hennebeau is a manager of the Company. He directly deals with the workers in the pit. It means that he supervises and manages the working activity in the mining Company.
“So all this belongs to Monsieur Hennebeau?”
“Oh no!” the old man explained. “Monsieur Hennebeau is only the manager. He is paid, same as we are.” (Zola, 1954: 27).
The quotation shows that Monsieur Hennebeau actually does not have the same position as Monsieur Grégoire as the shareholder, however, he belongs to the bourgeoisie because he also rules the working class.
During his days becoming a manager of the Company, he reaches everything especially in wealth. It can be seen trough the luxurious furniture in his house. His house is furnished with antique and fashionable styles: Henri II armchairs, Louis XV occasional chairs, a seventeenth-century Italian cabinet, an altar-front draping the mantelshelf, and old chasuble embroideries (Zola, 1954: 211). Hennebeau has everything that makes him comfortable.
married the daughter of a rich Arras spinner (Zola, 1954: 197). In his marriage, he was not given any birth of child. He passed the difficult times in getting the wealth and reaching the position as a manager in Montsou mines.
Monsieur Hennebeau is actually hospitable. He likes to be visited by everyone, even by the working class. He is patient in hearing the complaint of the workers, without temper.
“Ah! – here you are! This is a revolt, it seems.” He broke off to add with politeness:
“Sit down. I am only too delighted to have a chat.” (Zola, 1954: 212). From the quotation, it shows that even though he cannot accept the demands of the workers, he still wants to discuss the problems with the working class.
2. Setting Description
Robert Stanton stated that setting is the environment of the moment where the moment happens. It can be a period of time or history and also the place where the character lives (1965: 18-19). The setting can influence the character’s personality and also shape the character’s built in the novel.
The coal industry expanded enormously in the 19th century, as railways and industry grew throughout Europe. Coal mining companies made fortunes, employed thousands more workers, and mined hundreds of thousands of tons of coal a year. The owners had their wealth, the law, and the state on their side - but slowly the miners organized themselves to improve their conditions.
Coal was worked beyond the freshly redrawn frontier along an axis running from Belgian border to Valencinnes, in France. In 1735, a pit was dug in Anzin, near Valenciennes. The author, Zola, used this city to be the workplace in the novel as the setting. Moreover, in writing Germinal, he did researches in Valenciennes:
Zola visited a strike at Anzin, a dreary black mining community on the outskirts of Valenciennes. He interviewed miners and their families, visited their homes, went down a mine, and listened to strike meetings. He soon got the feel of how the miners were permanently hungry, living brutish lives in overcrowded cottages, often diseased through dangerous working condition, haunted by debt, insecurity, and the risk of total ruin by a disabling accident (http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/zola.htm).
Usually, mines in the northern France have a deep pit. It is about five hundreds to one thousand two hundreds meters deep. The miners will need a lift like a cage to go down the shaft. The environment deep below ground is hot, dusty and wet.
companies. As a result most miners went into debt feeding themselves (http://www.francemonthly.com/n/0408/index.php).
To house thousands of workers in this previously rural area, the mining companies hastily put up rows of cheaply-built cottages which were rented to the miners. If they had an accident, or went on strike, they lost their house as well as their job (www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/.../coal-risefall.htm).
In the novel, the mine is placed in Montsou. In Montsou, there are four mining companies; they are Le Voureux, Crevecoeur, Mirou and Madeleine. Most of the labors in the novel are set to work in Le Voreux. The depth of the shaft in Le Voreux is five hundred and fifty-four meters with four levels before the bottom. The workers use cage to go down to the bottom of pit. The cage is actually a primitive lift dropped on a long cable, wound up by a steam engine. At the beginning of the 19th century, cages were put in that functioned with cables to lower the miners down or pull them back up.
“When at last the cage stopped at the bottom, five hundred and fifty-four meters below ground, Etienne was amazed to learn that the descent had taken exactly one minute” (Zola, 1954: 46).
In the bottom pit, the workers dig the coal seams and then it is carried to the pit head. At the pit head, the coal is cleaned and sorted then dumped into railway trucks to be taken away by a never-ending stream of trains.
The setting of place of the house is different between the working class and the bourgeois. In the novel, the bourgeois has provides lodgings for the workers to stay. The house is set near from the mining Company and it is called Village Two Hundred and Forty.
Village Two Hundred and Forty, surrounded by its fields of corn and beet, was slumbering in blackest night. Its four great blocks of little back-to-back houses could just be made out: they were like hospital or barrack blocks, geometrical, parallel, separated by three wide strips of land divided into regular garden plots (Zola, 1954: 28).
The houses for the workers is actually not big, only small square of a room which can be divided into bedroom and dining room. There is also a coal fire in the house of working class to warm the house. The company gives limited accomodation and fuel to the workers.
When looking to the bourgeois’ house, it can be seen in contrast that the house of the bourgeois is much larger than the house of working class:
Just beyond was the house of the managing director, Monsieur Hennebeau, a large chalet-like building standing back behind iron gates and a garden containing some scraggy trees (Zola, 1954: 95).
The setting for home of the bourgeois is usually: large house, with a vast yard and it looks comfortable and luxurious.
B. The Oppressions Experienced by Working Class Reflected through
Characters and Settings
