The novel L’Assommoir, which became a literary sensation, covered in many ways a new realm of material - the tragedy of the working-class family. In this novel, Zola masterfully follows his principles of narration, which are not to embellish anything, even if talking about those who he sympathizes with.
In the center of the novel is the fate of an ordinary woman Gervaise. It was no coincidence that Zola called his novel a drama, as he emphasized the bitter share of his heroine, who fell victim to circumstances and the environment.
Gervaise's lover Lantier not only abandoned her with the children, but also actually robbed her, taking everything including pawnshop receipts. Being left alone, Gervaise is forced to work in the laundry room, in the midst of steam and dirt, in an atmosphere of anger and cruelty. But Gervaise's desires are modest: “to live among honest people,” “to live so that she won’t be beaten anymore,” “to have a job,” “a piece of bread,” “a bedroom, a table, a bed, two chairs, and nothing more.” Gervaise is the most attractive, most gentle image of all Zola’s characters, she is an embodied self-sacrifice.
When Coupeau falls from the roof, Gervaise does not hesitate to give back the money for renting a laundry for his treatment. Due to an accident, Coupeau is deprived of the opportunity to work and, together with his friends, does not leave the tavern. Alcoholism enslaves him and leads to degradation. This vice, as a manifestation of bad heredity, destroys Gervaise as well, leads her to the destruction of her family and miserable death.
The contrast between Gervaise at the beginning and at the end of the novel is tragic: kind and bright nature at the beginning of the novel and fallen and desperate in the end.
The novel was innovative at the time of its publication. The aesthetic development of new material, which literature had rarely been touched before, is the labor activity of a person. In this regard, new characters appear in the novel: artisans working at home, laundresses, ironers, construction workers, blacksmiths, roofers. Not only the technological details of their work, but also the social psychology of the characters, their attitude to their work is captured in the novel. Several years will pass - and this topic will receive a deep, innovative embodiment in the novel Germinal.
