Germinal

News of the conflict at Le Voreux reaches Paris. Levaque, still a prisoner, is considered a hero. Three Board members go to Montsou to inform the people that they intend to fire the Belgian workers and remove the gendarmes from the mines. The Company aims “to take the heat out of the situation,” thinking it best not “to acknowledge their powerlessness” (444). The Company posts notices inviting people to resume work. Only a dozen workers, including Pierron, return; the rest feel “[i]t was all a bit fishy” (445).

Since Maheu’s death, La Maheude has not spoken. She allows Étienne to bring Catherine home and is surprised to find that Catherine has her first period. La Maheude laments that now Catherine can “make babies for gendarmes to slaughter in their turn” (445). Étienne lives once again with the Maheus, frightened of the darkness of Réquillart. La Maheude wishes death would take them all.

One day Étienne finds La Maheude yelling at Catherine, who wants to go back to work. La Maheude refuses to let the Company “kill the father and then go on exploiting the children just like before” (447).