The Ladies’ Paradise, the 11th novel of Émile Zola’s Rougon-Macquart series, is a story of the coming of the modern age and the rise of capitalism and consumerism. In the center of the story is a department store that has revolutionized trade by facilitating consumers to “buy anything under the sun in one roof”. But this revolution has its repercussions because, in its wake, the big shop devours the small traders, one by one. Prudent ones save them by yielding to the offer to be bought off while the obstinate are slowly crushed by bankruptcy.
From the very first page, I sensed that The Ladies’ Paradise would be a wonderful story. Yet, I found the first few chapters rather disappointing. The story felt fragmented and the characters were stereotyped. It was so unlike a Zola novel. Then it dawned on me quite shockingly that I had got it all wrong. I have misunderstood the essence of the story and its central character. It was the Ladies Paradise, the department store, that was the protagonist while I was looking for a human lead. The rest of the characters played a supporting role and revolved around it. You can imagine my chagrin, having to reread a quarter of the book.
Émile Zola creates a complete world in The Ladies’ Paradise. Modelled on Le Bon Marché of Paris, one of the first modern department stores, Ladies Paradise not only brings to light modernization, capitalism, and consumerism but also an entire social revolution. Zola explores how consumers are both protected and exploited by this new method of business while standing firmly on the ground that this overall forward march towards modernization was actually beneficial to society. It is true that these big shops, these monstrous wheels of capitalism, crushed down small traders. But at the same time, they introduced a new consumerism culture that quite benefited the public. Moreover, they also provided sort of a haven for the working class. Of course, the big shops were no benefactors; they exploited labour. Nevertheless, they rescued and uplifted the working class from destitution, gradually improving their condition of life. Their elevated status commanded respect. This new business culture narrowed down the class distinction. While the working class upgraded their status by slow degrees, some of the aristocracy downgraded theirs. The dictum of capitalism was that no longer the birth decided class but money.
Amid this capitalism and consumerism drama comes Denise and Mouret’s love story. Denise joins Ladies’ Paradise as a salesgirl. She initially faces hostilities from her co-workers but with great courage and perseverance, she earns the respect of her colleagues eventually. Mouret is the young owner of the Ladies Paradise. He is a ruthlessly ambitious man who doesn’t care a jot for others so long as his ambitions and pleasures are satisfied. Being a widower, he happily leads a debauched life, often preying on his salesgirls. But with Denise, Mouret is checkmated. With quiet dignity, Denise firmly resists his advances, refusing to be “commodified”, and Mouret painfully realizes that not all can be bought by his millions.
Denise and Mouret’s story allows Zola to carry a scientific probe into the extent of the social impact of this new capitalism and consumerism culture. Mouret symbolises the capitalist exploiter while Denise, virtue. Denise’s resistance to Mouret is Zola’s way of showing that modern developments will not necessarily compromise morals. The implied marriage between the two signifies that morals are not necessarily endangered by a capitalist and consumerist culture and that they can exist in perfect harmony with each other. The marriage also signifies that the modern world has no more room for class distinctions.
Of all characters, I liked Denise the most. She is the embodiment of modern woman – courageous and resilient. She observes a strict moral conduct but isn’t judgmental of others and doesn’t wear her virtue like a jewel. I liked her balanced outlook of life.
And now I come to the most important feature of the novel: it is Zola’s writing. Émile Zola is a master craftsman of language. His words, full of poetical expression and symbolism, bring to life the machinery of capitalism as it breeds big shops and swallows the small ones, tearing down the old world into pieces and wiping its traces with strokes of modernization. Not only that, Zola also takes the readers on an emotional roller coaster. He describes in detail the poverty of the small shop owners, their struggle to survive, and their despair at witnessing the downfall of their once-successful businesses. Then he details the struggle within the Ladies’ Paradise where everyone unscrupulously undermines the other with a view to profit and advancement. All this is done in his raw and naturalist style. The emotions of love, jealousy, and envy add vibrancy to complete the picture. I have always found reading Zola emotionally taxing, but pleasantly so.
Émile Zola bewitched me with The Ladies’ Paradise. I’m in love with it. The fact that it is a timeless classic had also a special charm. Without question, it is the best of Zola I have read so far.
Rating: 5/5
