germinal

Between Hardships Obstacles are to be expected when getting into a relationship, but what happens when you add current hardships going on in a community or era into the mix? Like it or not the time period and issues concerning ones community influence many of the interactions one may have with other people. During a time of starvation, many people forget about love and instead focus in getting food on the table. And during times of war, people will focus on remaining safe and alive. Many luxuries and feelings are left behind and this influences relationships between people. In the book Germinal, those of the lower class community had to deal with many discriminating factors in their daily lives. So much that common human nature was left forgotten in the past. Likewise, in the book Shosha, the Jewish community lived in terror and with a sense of hopelessness when it came to the future of their people. The relationship between Catherine and Etienne as well as Shosha and Aaron overcame many of the hardships presented to them, all except death. Although both these relationships had many similarities, they too had differences such as the intensity in which they portrayed their love. Aaron and Shosha appeared to have a stronger relationship because they were in love since childhood. Both romances could have ended differently but more so with the relationship between Etienne and Catherine. These two relationships in these two different books were similar because they were unique; out of the ordinary relationships. Aaron’s friends would comment on his relationship because Shosha was ill and they would question “what he saw in Shosha” (Singer, 144). The illness that Shosha had did not come between them if not created a bigger bond. When it comes to Catherine and Etienne, their relationship was more of a crush. They both had feelings for each other, which could not be portrayed due to the simple fact that Catherine had an affair with Chaval already. Catherine and