Germinal

The Hennebeaus plan to have the Grégoires over for lunch the day the strike begins. M. Hennebeau is eager to please his wife: Mme. Hennebeau is used to money and finery, and M. Hennebeau has repeatedly relocated to find a position prestigious enough to satisfy her. He has “never possessed her as a lover” (204), and the two sleep in separate rooms. M. Hennebeau suspects his wife is having an affair with his nephew Négrel, who lives with them, but Mme. Hennebeau’s desire to orchestrate a marriage between Négrel and Cécile Grégoire makes M. Hennebeau believe he is mistaken.

The Grégoires arrive, and M. Hennebeau tells them he has drawn the curtains because he is afraid the striking miners are watching. Deneulin arrives in a panic that the strike will spread to Vandame. As they receive their luxurious meal, the party jokes at the vision of the cook being attacked with stones as she took the carriage to buy fish.

Deneulin says the current industrial crisis is “inevitable” (209) since they are coming off a period of prosperity. M. Hennebeau states that the miners used to make twice as much money. In turn, they developed “expensive tastes” and “find it hard to go back to their frugal ways” (209).