The Great Cat Massacre written by Robert Darnton in 1984 makes a point of the history of ordinary people’s mentalities as the concept and argues that the mentalities strongly influenced people’s behaviour and thinking in eighteenth century France, so this book can be classified into l’histoire des méntalites. For example, in “The Great Cat Massacre”, the title essay, Darnton picks up a French printer, Nicolas Contat’s memoirs as sources, deals with the event in the memoirs that some printers executed jokily cats one of which was loved by their master’s wife, and explicates people’s mentalities by interpreting historical background and meanings of this animal abuse, which the present people seem to regard as cruelty. For that, Darnton exploits …show more content…
and analyses Contat’s description of the memoirs, the relationships between the master and his wife and journeymen, and the contemporary view that a cat was a sexual, female, and bourgeois sign. Through the skilful analysis and interpretation, Darnton shows that the journeymen aimed to present their complaint about their master and his wife and mock them with this cat massacre as carnival, and concludes that this bloody event had the original function caused by the mentalities of ordinary French people under the Old Regime. Regarding methodology, it is distinctive that Darnton adopts the way of interpretive anthropology into his historical method in this work to consider ordinary people’s mentalities in the past. He exploits and interprets opaque documents, such as folklore, diaries, and personal documents, which were not regarded as valuable in previous historiography, to consider the mentalities of writers and readers of these documents. For his purpose, he applies anthropological ideas, especially, symbolic anthropology and “a thick description” advocated by Clifford Geertz to his historical interpretation. Darnton attempts to extract the mentalities of ordinary people in the Old Regime by interpreting meanings of texts and contexts of writers and readers who were commoners in eighteenth century France, as a thick description makes a point of contexts of behaviours as well as behaviours themselves. In other word, Darnton as a historian uses descriptions written in the past as construed materials instead of anthropologists’ interviews and participant observations. In addition, Darnton emphasises the importance of interpretation of symbols to grasp the mentalities in the past, while he recognises the risk of translating symbols in the past without considering contemporary sensibility as that can cause the past to be distorted unconsciously.
He realises that what a behaviour, such as killing cats, signifies has been dependent on its historical background, and treats carefully the fissure between what killing cats signifies at the present and what that did in eighteenth century France, which can give historians a clue for interpreting the mentalités in the past. He stresses that the mentalities of people under the Old Regime was definitively different from those of present people and that it is indispensable for historians to regard people in the past as aliens. Therefore, his view about the importance of recognising the gap in the mentalities between in the past and in the present prompts him to criticise psychological interpretation of symbols in …show more content…
folklores. Darnton’s interpretive method succeeds in exhibiting the mentalities of French people under the Old Regime, which cannot be solved by analysing people quantitatively with demographical or social methods, as he interpreted the contexts and meanings of ordinary people’s behaviours and writings from texts. The reason for it is that his work explicates that the meanings of symbols, people’s behaviours and writings were quite common in specific social groups in eighteenth century France and he analyses elaborately such meanings. Moreover, interpreting the French mentalities in the eighteenth century, Darnton illustrates their common view about the social order and the social classes, and the development of their interest in the Enlightenment under the Old Regime. As a microhistory, Darnton’s careful analysis of personal and narrow documents enables his historical description to express the public and broad view about the society in eighteenth century France. The Great Cat Massacre is criticised seriously for its anthropological approach, however, and has created the discussion about how to interpret symbols in historiography.
Roger Chartier, who is known as one of the most important critics of Darnton’s method, asserts that simple interpreting specific materials, such as Contat’s memoirs, could not form a unified mentalities of people under the Old Regime, for the society of France had diverse strata and a writing by people in a stratum might not be affected by other strata. He argues the limit of the symbols interpreted by Darnton as the tools to illustrate Frenchness . Dominick LaCapra, who is the other famous critic, states that as Darnton embodies the concept of symbolic meanings generated from opaqueness of the past and interprets them assertively, he loses sight of the possibilities of diversity of in one’s own culture and simplifies excessively the intricate interaction of proximity and distance within and between the past and the present . Sigurdur G. Magnusson pointed out that Darnton interpreted the texts and constructed the mentalities under the Old Regime as if the mentalities had manipulated individual behaviour, writings, and thinking without peculiar elements . Magnusson’s critic suggests the absence of actors’ personal deed in Darnton’s interpretation. These criticisms imply difficult problems to reconstruct mentalities in the past by interpreting symbols extracted from micro-study and bridge the difference
between symbolic anthropology focusing on synchronic features and the history of mentalities with diachronic narratives. In spite of legitimate criticism on symbols, The Great Cat Massacre is undoubtedly an interdisciplinary and pioneer work adopting the method of anthropology into the realm of history. This book shows the significance of studying the mentalities of ordinary people in the past and presents the example of how to deal with symbols by analysing “vague” historical sources to study history of ordinary people, which has inspired historians to consider seriously how they grapple with symbols as objects of historical analysis.
The year of terror is one of the most complex and misunderstood periods in the French Revolution. Palmer, in his book, Twelve Who Ruled, however, takes this period and skillfully turns it into a written masterpiece. The book is narrated from the point of view of someone with an omniscient knowledge of the subject matter, who is reflecting back on the period from the outside.
It is no surprise then that with such heavy issues weighing on the minds of the peasantry, that there was such a surge of violence with the murder of Monéy. When the town of Hautefaye began to celebrate the commemoration of the First Empire on August 15th, drinking became the main activity causing the celebration to become a likely place for violence. Corbin suggests that what makes the murder of Monéy distinguishable from other acts of violence, was that the event was past the French period where such violence was common, as well as it was unusual for the crime to take place at the time of day that it did. Ultimately, given the amount of heavy issues weighing on the minds of the peasantry at a time when France was in such turmoil, it’s logical that a surge of violence occurred within the town of Hautefaye.
In the Enseigne, art is also shown to serve a function that it has always fulfilled in every society founded on class differences. As a luxury commodity it is an index of social status. It marks the distinction between those who have the leisure and wealth to know about art and posses it, and those who do not. In Gersaint’s signboard, art is presented in a context where its social function is openly and self-consciously declared. In summary, Watteau reveals art to be a product of society, nevertheless he refashions past artistic traditions. Other than other contemporary painters however, his relationship to the past is not presented as a revolt, but rather like the appreciative, attentive commentary of a conversational partner.
The amount of violence prevalent in the suburbs of Paris is never glossed over in “La Haine” and Tea in the Harem. In Tea in the Harem, one of the first images presented to the reader is of the older residents of the neighborhood buying dogs and training them to sic any intimidating figures, including youths. “La Haine” ends and begins with a gunshot. The occupants of t...
In conclusion of this review lengthy of The Great Cat Massacre; I’ve given a rather lengthy insight into the book, Mr. Darnton’s motivation for writing the book, and a different view of the The Great Cat Massacre with the aid of Roger Chartier. In retrospect I enjoyed reading this book very much, however I do not feel that it was the best book for this review. The book itself was looking at history in a different way and it made it extremely difficult to compare or contrast it with another source. Mr. Darnton whose views in my opinion are sound it’s just that are very narrow questions about a very large subject “French Culture” and it was hard to locate different opinions.
While coming to terms with the absurd was a gradual process for Meursault, his final days and his heated conversation with the chaplain, and his desire for a hateful crowd of spectators show that he was able to accept the absurdity, and revel in it, finding satisfaction in spite of those around him and justifying his murder. His ego had reached an all-time high as he neared his execution, and his satisfaction left him prepared for the nothingness awaiting him. This process was a natural psychological response to his mortality, for his peace of mind. Therefore, Meursault is not the Stranger, an alien to society, but a troubled man seeking meaning and satisfaction in a life and a world that was overwhelming unsatisfactory and absurd.
...critics eyes as it looks at a piece of work and where the eyes follow. Also that the space and time for the LC system, the function is only a basic framework and the division of visual arts are a medium in fundamental antiquarian. Robert’s defense is Arnaldo Momigliano perspective upon early-modern antiquarian to modern historian which is most historian would write in chorological order while antiquaries write in a systematic way. The other perspective is Historian find facts to discover and explanation in multiple ways and an antiquarian examines a research relations connected to the exact subject (The Map of Art History, 32). Overall Robert’s essay was really persuasive to me and it provide enough strong evidence where it convince me to agree with the idea of having art history and disciplines also societies to represents itself through order and classification.
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is the story of a woman spiralling into madness whilst her physician husband refuses to acknowledge that she has a "real" problem. On the other hand The Black Cat by Edgar Alan Poe is about a man who is initially fond of cats however as the plot progresses he becomes an alcoholic making him moody and violent, which lead him to torture and kills the animals and eventually also his wife. In Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Black Cat," symbolism is used to show the narrator’s capacity for violence, madness, and guilt .The recurring theme present in both these stories is that the main protagonists claim that they suffer or have been taken over by a form of madness. In this essay I shall examine the various symbolism used by the writer's to represent madness.
...er” becomes the Barbarians. If the strangers were the Cannibals, then the status quo of the French society is preserved and the cannibalistic behaviors of the foreigners become unconventional. This is assuming the belief that the Europeans are the norm. By identifying the “self” and the “other”, he first sets the differences between the two and then blurs them to state that the universal human posses characteristics of both societies and that one is not necessarily more civilized than the other. As the essay progresses, the coming together of the Barbarian and the European suggests that the Cannibals are closer to the operations of Nature but will eventually progress toward the same society structure as the one present in Europe. He therefore addresses the universal human by examining both societies but not offering an absolute standard for which is more barbaric.
Meursault’s apathy towards his mother’s death, his girlfriend, Marie Cardona, and the Arabic man symbolize a cruel French colonist. The first sentence of “ The stranger”, “Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure”(4), appalls reader by showing Meursault’s unconcern about his mother’s death date. At the funeral, Meursault behaves indifferently which contrasts with the old Perez, “who put on and put off his hat again and again”(11). Conversation between Meursault and his girlfriend also shows Meursault aloofness. “Marie came that evening and asked me if I’d marry her. I said I didn’t mind; if she was keen on it, we’d get married. Then she asked me again if I loved her. I replied, much as before, that her question meant nothing or next to nothing- bu...
Montaigne presents the view of his countrymen, who are as barbaric as a cannibalistic society. I used this article to show the similarity between what he is criticizing and what Narby is.
Despair, 4. Acceptance, and 5. His future. The variety of these critical views suggests the nature of a young man coming to terms to follow his heart. First, in the article entitle “Catullus: The Lesbia Cycled”
By considering such arguments, psychoanalysis can be said to have no ultra fundamental meaning when assessing an author’s work. For former advocate of this analysis, Frederic...
Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale, "The Black Cat," is a disturbing story that delves into the contrasts between reality and fantasy, insanity and logic, and life and death. To decipher one distinct meaning presented in this story undermines the brilliance of Poe's writing. Multiple meanings can be derived from "The Black Cat," which lends itself perfectly to many approaches of critical interpretation.
Another aspect of her novel that took on the context of empathy but in an entirely different way. This persuasive discussion of Hunt introduces the topic of torture and the speedy reduction it faced in terms of the techniques and frequency throughout Europe as form of empathy, which is needed for the context of human rights. Hunt is able to argue that torture devices known as “the wheel” and “the iron collar” were able to be slowly pushed out of the French judicial system because of the changing cultural attitudes. It is necessary to state that prior to the changing minds, the view of torture was that “the pains of the body did not belong entirely to the individual condemned person… bodies could be mutilated in the interest of inscribing authority, and broken or burned in the interest of restoring the moral, political, and religious order” (Hunt, 94). People were subjected to torture instantaneously without ability to reason or justify, and many of the times faced death without even being able to plea for their innocence.