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1. What is the setting of THE BELLY OF PARIS?

Émile Zola's THE BELLY OF PARIS is set in mid-nineteenth century Paris, France, in the market district called Les Halles.

2. Who is the protagonist of THE BELLY OF PARIS and what is his situation that sets up the novel?

The protagonist of the story is Florent Quenu, a mild-mannered individual who is wrongly accused of murder and participating in an insurrection orchestrated by Louis-Napoleon in December, 1851. Florent is deported and sent to Devil's Island in Dutch Guiana. After he escapes from "Cayenne" as the penal colony is called, Florent Quenu returns to Paris to find that the entire city has changed.

3. What new things does Florent see in Paris when he returns?

There are new streets, new taxes, and a new government. The old Marché des Innocents or Market of the Innocents has been replaced by the monolithic markets of Les Halles. The Paris Florent once loved has become a feeding ground for the petits-bourgeois. Merchants and shopkeepers, small-time bureaucrats and loyalists in support of the new Empire have turned the Les Halles neighborhood into a gluttonous, fear-driven den of hypocrisy and pettiness.

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