Germinal Characters & Character Analysis

Germinal Characters

Chaval

Chaval is the name of the miner who took Catherine Maheu from her family house. He is twenty-five years old and thin but strong looking. He has some limited leadership abilities but is overly dominant and self-centered. He worked along with the Maheus down in the mine. He takes possession of Catherine Maheu by raping her and later takes her away from her family. However, he is a violent man who treats woman like a possession of limited value; Catherine will eventually leave him and come back to her family. During the strike, Chaval works for the Jean-Bart mine; he is bribed by its owner and convinces the other miners not to go on strike. Chaval is killed by Etienne Lantier during the flood of the mine; his floating corpse haunts the two survivors trapped in the mine.

Chaval represents the typical 'macho' man with no identifiable moral values....
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