Story of the unavoidable uprisings of coal hewers in Northern France in 1860s.The fight for keeping hope for a better future that seeds amongst the miners and birth of idea of socialism under the rule of Emperor Napoleon III. It shows a struggle between capital and labour, resulting in the natural
Main character, Entiene arrives to Montsou and starts work at the coalmine in Le Voreux. After a range of unfortunate events and economic situation in the country, Entiene becomes interested in socialism. Other hewers working at the mine share his fate of misery and poverty. Mr and Mrs Maheu, their children, Levaque, Bonnemont (good death), Chaval and others begin to understand and approve of Entiene’s ideas of better, fairer future.
In Part I, not only the miserable and incredibly hard life, filled with starvation and poverty of the hewers is being described, but also sights of hope, pride, love and romance (Entiene and Catherine- Entiene doesn’t want to take food of Catherine, hunger wins over the man’s pride). The lower class entertainment was usually at the public house, where all the workers would meet up and drink beer and discuss their unfortunate fate.On the other hand, Part II shows a contrasting image of wealthy lives of Mr and Mrs Gregoire, illustrates detailed descriptions of life of the aristocracy, and their fortunate inheritance that keeps them in a wealthy state of life, “ the owners of the mine.
The clash of the two classes is also showed in the types of worries that they had, workers dreaded of finding enough money for food, electric, clothes for themselves and their children.Aristocracy was bothered by the fact of who should marry whom for better family business or how to make more money on poor mine workers or how to keep their shares.
One of the first visual clashes of the two classes, perfectly describing their relation to each other is showed when Mrs La Maheude brings her 2 children to Gregorie’s house, begging for warm clothes and money, trying to make them aware of the situation that their employees have to live in. Male part of Gregorie’s tried to blame it on drunkenness of the workers and wasting their money on pleasures, shading their feel of guilt away and focusing on their own good. 
Eventually, “The point of equilibrium” is reached, it is the “empty stomach, life imprisonment in the house of hunger”. Main character starts his thoughts of standing against unfairness. And after the further reduction of the pay in Part III, workers begin to panic, the workers know that “The time has come! The time has come!”
Part 1-3, Germinal(tbc)
Winchester University Journalism Course History and Context of Journalism Part III
