 Zola's plan for these novels was to show how heredity and environment worked on members of one family over the course of the Second French Empire.All of the descendants of Adelaïde Fouque (Tante Dide), Pauline's great-grandmother, demonstrate what today would be called obsessive-compulsive behaviors.Pauline demonstrates these characteristics to a lesser degree than anyone in the family who is a focus of his or her own book.