Human life
Although Zola found it scientifically and artistically unjustifiable to create larger-than-life characters, his work presents some larger-than-life symbols which, like the mine Le Voreux in "Germinal", take on the nature of a surrogate human life. The mine, the still in "L'Assommoir" and the locomotive La Lison in "La Bête humaine" impress the reader with the vivid reality of human beings. The great natural processes of seedtime and harvest, death and renewal in "La Terre" are instinct with a vitality which is not human but is the elemental energy of life. Human life is raised to the level of the mythical as the hammerblows of Titans are seemingly heard underground at Le Voreux or in "La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret", the walled park of Le Paradou encloses a re-enactment—and restatement—of the Book of Genesis.