Kiera Vaclavik
200
effect of underground labour on Jeanlin’s body and soul can already
be seen in the first part of Zola’s novel: his simian nature is suggested
when he is first introduced, he is shown engaging in sexual activities,
stealing and drinking alcohol, and is later referred to as “un avorton
humain, qui retournait à l’animalité d’origine” (p. 181).
26 But it is
after his legs are crushed in a mining accident that the process of
regression is accelerated: “[Etienne] le regardait, avec son museau, ses
yeux verts, ses grandes oreilles, dans sa dégénérescence d’avorton à
l’intelligence obscure et d’une ruse de sauvage, lentement repris par
l’animalité ancienne. La mine, qui l’avait fait, venait de l’achever, en
lui cassant les jambes” (p. 263). Jeanlin is, then, utterly different from
the boys strutting around the mine and on their way to becoming
“strapping” lads in Ballantyne’s Deep Down. From his noncoincidentally subterranean refuge in part of the former workings on
the mine, Jeanlin embarks on a wide-ranging campaign of theft. His
rampages across the local vicinity eventually culminate in his coldblooded and wholly unmotivated murder of the young soldier guarding the mine. In works for children, even where working conditions
are poor or where the perils of mining are clear, there is none of the
sense of outrage or protest discernible in Germinal. The endings serve
to confirm the political conservatism, the respect for the status quo
which characterizes much children’s fiction.
27 The endings also convey the optimism typical of children’s literature, and the texts overall
powerfully promote the possibility of self-determination. In each of
these texts, where time is spent underground either as inhabitants or
workers or both, it is not the environment which shapes the individual.
It is instead the individual’s own behaviour and actions which determine his future. At most, the underground provides a space in which
the heroes can demonstrate their bravery, quick-thinking and physical
prowess. In other words, there is no danger that the heroes of these
___________________________
sity of Glasgow French and German Publications, 1989). Like Zola, Verne also visited the mining community of Anzin. As mentioned above, Sous Terre can be seen as
a rewriting of Germinal for young readers.
26 Emile Zola, Germinal (Paris: Livre de Poche, 1983), p. 181. Subsequent references
are to this edition and are given after quotations in the main body of the text.
27 According to Caradec, it is because of the need to please parents as well as children
that “[l]a littérature pour enfants est […] la plus conventionnelle qui soit”, and demonstrates an “attitude réactionnaire et conservatrice”. See François Caradec, Histoire
de la littérature enfantine en France (Paris: Albin Michel, 1977), p. 17.
200
effect of underground labour on Jeanlin’s body and soul can already
be seen in the first part of Zola’s novel: his simian nature is suggested
when he is first introduced, he is shown engaging in sexual activities,
stealing and drinking alcohol, and is later referred to as “un avorton
humain, qui retournait à l’animalité d’origine” (p. 181).
26 But it is
after his legs are crushed in a mining accident that the process of
regression is accelerated: “[Etienne] le regardait, avec son museau, ses
yeux verts, ses grandes oreilles, dans sa dégénérescence d’avorton à
l’intelligence obscure et d’une ruse de sauvage, lentement repris par
l’animalité ancienne. La mine, qui l’avait fait, venait de l’achever, en
lui cassant les jambes” (p. 263). Jeanlin is, then, utterly different from
the boys strutting around the mine and on their way to becoming
“strapping” lads in Ballantyne’s Deep Down. From his noncoincidentally subterranean refuge in part of the former workings on
the mine, Jeanlin embarks on a wide-ranging campaign of theft. His
rampages across the local vicinity eventually culminate in his coldblooded and wholly unmotivated murder of the young soldier guarding the mine. In works for children, even where working conditions
are poor or where the perils of mining are clear, there is none of the
sense of outrage or protest discernible in Germinal. The endings serve
to confirm the political conservatism, the respect for the status quo
which characterizes much children’s fiction.
27 The endings also convey the optimism typical of children’s literature, and the texts overall
powerfully promote the possibility of self-determination. In each of
these texts, where time is spent underground either as inhabitants or
workers or both, it is not the environment which shapes the individual.
It is instead the individual’s own behaviour and actions which determine his future. At most, the underground provides a space in which
the heroes can demonstrate their bravery, quick-thinking and physical
prowess. In other words, there is no danger that the heroes of these
___________________________
sity of Glasgow French and German Publications, 1989). Like Zola, Verne also visited the mining community of Anzin. As mentioned above, Sous Terre can be seen as
a rewriting of Germinal for young readers.
26 Emile Zola, Germinal (Paris: Livre de Poche, 1983), p. 181. Subsequent references
are to this edition and are given after quotations in the main body of the text.
27 According to Caradec, it is because of the need to please parents as well as children
that “[l]a littérature pour enfants est […] la plus conventionnelle qui soit”, and demonstrates an “attitude réactionnaire et conservatrice”. See François Caradec, Histoire
de la littérature enfantine en France (Paris: Albin Michel, 1977), p. 17.