Matt Groening’s quote, “Here’s to alcohol: the cause of, and answer to, all of life’s problems,” describes the thought process of most of France’s working class during the late 1800s. In Émile Zola’s L’Assommoir, Zola explains the many different ways the working class abuses alcohol and the impacts it has on people’s health and the relationships with people around them. Zola focuses specifically on the short and long term effects that spirits have on the Coupeau and Goujet families. Gervaise and