Nana

In Chapter 7, Fauchery writes an opinion piece for the Figaro that condemns Nana in the harshest possible terms, not as an actress but as a person who is infecting Parisian society with her loose morals. The article is titled “La Mouche d’Or,” meaning The Golden Fly. Like a fly, Fauchery writes, Nana enjoys wallowing in filth and then spreading it around to anyone with whom she comes in contact, infecting the upper classes without a second thought.

The fly is an apt symbol for Nana in the sense that insects do not spread disease out of malice; they simply follow their instincts, unconscious of their actions’ effects. Similarly, Zola’s naturalist ideology leads him to portray Nana as a woman merely following the instincts she has collected through heredity and environment. Yes, she sometimes develops and acts on personal resentments; at times she even justifies her ruination of men as a form of revenge for her lower-class background and previous ill treatment. However, she wreaks much of her ruin without premeditation. Steiner, for instance, is a lover she mostly considers a boring annoyance. She has no simmering resentment against him. She makes demands for money, and he obliges until he has nothing left.