Nana openly sleeps with several paying lovers, and most of the men have mistresses on the side. Sex is openly discussed in the novel, even though it is alluded to in many sections. Men have affairs, and so do women, they just do not talk about them as much. It is interesting that Zola also shows how simple society really was, and how lacking they were in anything concrete or important. After lunch, the women at Nana's play cards, and Nana is "bored" by everything. This is a society without intellectual stimulation or pursuit, and so, it is no wonder she is bored. She has no reason to use her mind, and so, she has developed no intellect or passion about anything. She is bored, and this society is boring.
Beauty and ugliness are skewed in Zola's view, as well. Body and dress were of supreme importance, even more important than personality, intellect, and decency. He writes often of the opulent fabrics, gowns and embellishments that were the height of fashion at the time. In the theater he notes, "There were signals, rustlings of fabrics, a continual march past of skirts and head dresses, accentuated by the black hue of a dress coat or a surtout."
Later, in Nana's apartment, one of her guests wears a fabulous hat. He writes, "The hat was smart to distraction. In front it was greatly exaggerated, and it was adorned with a lofty feather"
Fashion was "greatly exaggerated," and it represents the opulence of the time and the shallowness of society. Zola illustrates them...
However, some of the book's most controversial scenes are those of Nana nude on the stage, which shows how far into depravity the society has dropped. She conjures up dreams even in middle-aged men. Zola writes, "While he was passing along the boulevards the roll of the last carriages deafened him with the name of Nana; the gaslights set nude limbs dancing before his eyes -- the nude limbs, the lithe arms, the white shoulders, of Nana" (Zola 177). Society is obsessed with clothing and sex, and yet, they condone shedding clothing in public, something that seems shabby and a dirty even today.
In conclusion, Zola's novel is really a critical assessment of Parisian society during the Second Empire, and it is not a very positive assessment. It seems that Zola believes the people of Paris are self-adsorbed, shallow, and interested in the wrong aspects of society. They are only interested in the shells of the people around them, rather than the soul and heart of the people, and they place emphasis on how people look and who they know, rather than who they are inside. Intelligence is not admired, and fashion is as important as who you know. Overall, it is a very decadent and hollow society, and one that seemed destined to fail.
References
Zola, Emile. Nana. New York: Gosset & Dunlap, 1933.
Emile Zola, Nana. New York: Gosset & Dunlap, 1933, 5.
