Gervaise and Coupeau are happily married and through hard work they manage to advance in society. Until Coupeau is injured and takes to idleness, gluttony and eventually to drink. The novel shows the affect of alcoholism and poverty on the lives of people in the working-class districts of Paris. Seventh in Émile Zola's twenty-volume series "Les Rougon-Macquart", "L'Assommoir" is one of Zola's masterpieces and his most realistic work.