"Work [Travail]" by Émile Zola is a late 19th-century story that intensely examines the lives of working-class people. The main character, Luc Froment, sees the tough lives of laborers, mainly focusing on a poor family's fight to live in a difficult world. This story shows Zola's dedication expressing societal truth and criticizes the unfairness common in industrial society. The book starts with Luc Froment in a gloomy factory area, watching a young woman, Josine, and her little brother, Nanet, waiting sadly outside a steel factory called the Abyss. The story strongly shows the depressing mood of the factory town, the heavy feelings of the characters, and the social problems from labor fights caused by a recent strike. Josine’s pain, made worse by her hurt hand and her powerlessness against hunger, emphasizes the uncertain situation of the working class, preparing for a discussion of topics like the need for group effort and the human cost of factories. The first part paints a world full of pain and desperation, pulling the reader into the societal message that will be shown throughout the book.
Work [Travail]
By Émile Zola
In a world of factories and strikes, a man witnesses the desperation of a struggling family and the crushing weight of industrial life.
Summary
About the AuthorÉmile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism. He was a major figure in the political liberalization of France and in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus, which is encapsulated in his renowned newspaper opinion headlined J'Accuse…!  Zola was nominated for the first and second Nobel prizes in literature in 1901 and 1902.
Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism. He was a major figure in the political liberalization of France and in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus, which is encapsulated in his renowned newspaper opinion headlined J'Accuse…!  Zola was nominated for the first and second Nobel prizes in literature in 1901 and 1902.
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