The Development Of Gervaise In The Drinking Den

The novel “The Drinking Den” by Émile Zola revolves around a hard working women, Gervaise, who experiences difficulties taking a ride roller coaster. It can be compared to the shape of an inverse parabolic structure. Gervaise faces obstacles as the novel begins, starting with her alcoholic ex-husband, Lantier. As the novel continues Gervaise’s character development progresses positively to a certain point, but then it turns and begins on the negative development. This essay will first analyze the development of Gervaise’s character in The Drinking Den. It will then examine how Zola uses her to examine the problem of alcohol? As this essay examines the rise and fall of Gervaise, it will also demonstrate how the characters that surround her

influence her.

From the beginning, Gervaise works hard for the things she hopes to achieve. She states her desires early on of what she hopes to come from her life: “She looked around, analysing her desires and not finding anything much apart from this that appealed to her. However, with a little hesitation, she continued: ‘Yes, perhaps in the end one would like to die in one’s bed. After slaving away all my life, it would be nice to die in my bed, at home” (Zola, pg. 41). Gervaise is determined to work hard for her family by getting a job working in a laundry mat. Her character starts to develop after she learns that her now ex-husband, Lantier, ran off leaving them. She can control herself as shown how she does not drink in the drinking den at the beginning of the novel. She meets Coupeau in the drinking den and finds out that he is a hard working and not an alcoholic. Gervaise ends up marrying him, and they have a daughter, Nana. Gervaise jumps from one household with Laniter to another with Coupeau. Unfortunately, Coupeau has an accident by falling off of the roof that causes him to be immobile and not able to work. Gervaise is determined to work hard for her family in order to the achieve the desires that she mentioned early on in the novel. Through hard work and saving up enough money, she was able to open up her own laundry store. This is an example of positive development as it is beneficial for her, her family and their future. She develops a sense of pride and success because of the opening and possession of the shop.

Gervaise’s hard work is an example of positive reinforcement.

With hard work comes the success of the opportunity to open up the shop and be able to have more money. As a result of her laziness, she begins to rack up debt in turn leading to the loss of the shop. After a while, Gervaise becomes lazy and expects to receive all the benefits of the shop without working hard. “In the central phases of her development, a dynamic combination of factors and forces is brought into play: the outrageous ill-luck of Coupeau’s fall, the debilitating effects on her will of the dirty laundry in the shop, her first ‘spells of laziness’ seemingly prompted directly by the ‘asphyxiatng’ air of the shop, her excessive generosity to Coupeau, his drunken kiss ‘amid the filth of her trade’, which ‘was like a first fall, in the slow degradation of their life” (Baguley, pg. 57). Gervaise is intoxicated by the possession of things such as the shop. There is the development of her going from possessing very little to owning more, but then abusing it to the point where she loses it. Gervaise loses her ambition for the future and slowly becomes lazier and is consumed by her spending. She is spending more than she is working which causes her to lose the shop over time. This is on the downward part of the inverse parabola as she descends into her own filth. “Of course, with laziness and poverty, in came dirt. It was impossible to recognize the lovely sky-blue shop that had once been Gervaise’s pride

and joy” (Zola, pg. 277). The stress of the return of Lantier as well as trying to maintain the household takes a toll on Gervaise. There is a presence of emotion and financial stress as well as the bad memories that accompany Lantier being around the household. “It was not raining in Old Colombe’s and even if the money was melting away in fire-water, at least they were getting the benefit, drinking it clear and shining like liquid gold” (Zola, 340). Here Coupeau and Gervaise are seen in the drinking den. They describe how quickly their money is disappearing due to alcohol. Alcohol is not cheap, and they are racking up their debt because of the spending of alcohol.

Throughout the Drinking Den, the revolving notion of alcoholism.

Zola uses Gervaise as a symbol in societies to depict how alcohol affects people's lives. “Gervaise no longer felt the hunger that had been ravaging her. Now, she was reconciled to Coupeau and no longer resented his failure to keep his word” (Zola, pg. 340). Alcohol becomes a substitute for everything in the novel. They may not have any food, but they still continue to drink. Zola uses Gervaise's life to describe one of an alcoholic and the negative connotation that accompanies the state of being intoxicated. She was able to work hard striving towards achieving her desires, but she manages to ruin all hopes after alcohol influences her life. Beth Chapman, a student at The University of Michigan, states "Zola had wanted to create Gervaise as a type of heroine. She did have a brief period of stability in her life when she met and married Coupeau" (pg. 4). Zola wanted to have Gervaise along with her family to depict a working class family that overcome challenges, but are not able to sustain themselves. By using the influence of alcohol, Zola achieves representing the image of a working class household along with the struggles they carry during 1877. Zola shows what happens when one abuses alcohol and the intoxicating effect that it

has.

This essay identified the development of Gervaise's character by analyzing her characteristic early in the novel and her characteristic towards the end. Gervaise has come full circle as in the last few chapters her situation parallels the early pages of the novel. This essay also examined how Zola used Gervaise to examine the problem of alcohol in society. Some difficulties when searching for evidence on the matter is that many sources are not in english. The Drinking Den has circulated through many titles, therefore, when searching for secondary sources, it often was displayed as a different title than the one we have.