Other branch
Jeanlin Maheu
Child miner, thief
The youngest Maheu son in Germinal — a ten-year-old who is already morally feral. Injured underground and left with a limp, he builds a private world of small thefts and cruelties in the old tunnels. He commits a murder for no clear reason, almost as an animal might. He is Zola's most disturbing portrait of what poverty and the mine do to children.
Le plus jeune fils Maheu dans Germinal — enfant déjà moral dévoyé par la mine. Il commet un meurtre inexpliqué, portrait glaçant de ce que la pauvreté fait aux enfants.
Small, simian, always darting and grinning — a child who has skipped childhood entirely.
Small, simian, always darting and grinning — a child who has skipped childhood entirely.