Traditional Families serve a pivotal role in shaping all aspects of young men and girls’ lives. In 18th century Europe, the concept of family appeared in 2 forms, a nuclear family, and an extended family household. A nuclear unit constituted of a mother, father and their children. When the children grew up they moved out of the home and formed their own households. Extended families included a dominant older male who controlled the rest of the household, including his wife, children and his sons or younger brother’s families. Extended family models appeared less often in Western Europe and they typically formed in times of economic hardship. Most European families in the 1700’s worked in agriculture or trades related to sustaining rural …show more content…
communities. Communities defined a person’s identity by their ability to conceive children, own property or work a trade. 18th century European marriages relied on traditional notions of patriarchal household control and the need to cultivate a family centered around sustaining life through the acquisition of property and capital. A Life of Her Own, is an autobiography on the life of Emilie Carles. She grew up in Val-des-Près, a small and rural mountain provenance that sustained a traditional family structure in the face of an evolving, modern 20th century. The biography developed from a 70-year collection of Mrs. Carle’s written stories. The autobiography depicted Emile Carles’s transition from the traditional family in which she derived to a more modern notion of family that she lead in her adult life. Similarly, the film The Return of Martin Guerre expertly follows a 16th century court case that upheld the notions of traditional marriages, and families.
The court case addresses the life of a married couple named Martin and Bertrande. The coupled married young and after a few years of marriage, Martin abandoned his wife and child to go join the army. After years of being gone, Martin returns a fully-grown man and his family rejoiced. As the story unfolds it becomes evident that the “New Martin Guerre” is an imposter and he is eventually put on trial by his uncle and members of his extended family who believe that he is an imposture. Later in the case the real Martin Guerre returns from war to prove his identity and inadvertently protected his family’s property and …show more content…
assets. Mrs. Carles grew up in a patriarchal home in which her father made the families decisions. After her father purchased a new stove she talks about the stove symbolizing the potential for modernity in their little commune. Later in the chapter she declares that the stove appeared to be the only thing that changed in her home, “but aside from the stove, our ways hardly changed. We led our family life according to unvarying age-old principles. It was a patriarchy and everything that goes with it. At the top of the Pyramid was my father who ruled the house with an iron fist… He was the master… He had all the rights…” In a traditional European family married women and children had no legal rights and survived under the thumb of the superior male in the family.
For example, in Emilie’s village a sweet and amicable girl named Angèle married her drunk, brute of cousin and continually suffered his abuses because as his wife she had no legal right to defend herself and had to remain his “submissive”. Mrs. Carles sister Emile-Rose married a man who abused her and eventually drove her insane. She married him in part because she became pregnant and the patriarchal structure required that women marry before a child was born as to create property rights for the child. A child born outside of marriage burdened the commune since they had no rights to their parent’s land or tools and when the child grew up it would not be able to support themselves. In contrast Mrs. Carles broke the traditional patriarchal system by marrying a man her father did not necessarily approve of and by receiving a formal education that allowed her increased autonomy. Most girls in rural European communities never learned to write and reading centered around preparing women for their first communion and to be moral members of their future husband’s household. Mrs. Carles spent her teaching career attempting to “air out “antiquated ideas on patriarchal rule in the French mountain side. Mrs. Carles progressive life helped bring modern family ideals to her French province through her position as a teacher and loving
wife. Martin Guerre’s village thrived on the notion of patriarchal control. Martin and his wife lived with his mother and father when they first got married and Martins father maintained power over the household. Before Martin left to join the war movement he helped his father cultivate the land and a few bags of grain went missing to which Matins’ father accessed him of stealing from the household. Martin lived with his father and remained under his control until he died and Martin then would inherit the property and take on the role of master. Martin went away to fight in the war before his parents passed and once they perished his uncle received control of the land since he was the next of kin male old in of to inherit. In order to keep the land in the family and to ensure that Martins wife, Bertrande remained taken care of a marriage ensued between Bertrande’s mother and Martin’s uncle. Marriages between family members after a death insured that land and property stayed within the families. Martins uncle became master of the household in place of Martin. The conflict of the trial stems from Martin trying to gain monetary funds from his uncle for the years in which his uncle worked the property in Martins place. Also, Martin wanted to sell part of the family’s property and his uncle believes that the real Martin would never inhibit his family’s ability to provide for themselves by selling land needed to sustain life. Marriages derived from a need to acquire and maintain property. Often marriages formed around a formal agreement or contract that list each item both parties brought to the union. Dowries listed the items in which women contributed to the marriage. Dowries typically included clothing linens, farm animals, monetary currency, and men brought property to the marriage. When Mrs. Carles first married her husband, her father did not approve considering that her spouse Jean had no property and only brought debt to the marriage. Emilie Carles family wanted the land to stay in the family and the did not trust a worker who “held Fortune” in his hands to run the farm. Similarly Jean’s mother protested the union because Emilie did not have enough monetary wealth to constitute a proper union to her only son. The union between Emilie and Jean broke the traditional family standards of marriage, since neither party married for love and not capital gain. On the other hand, Martin Guerre and Bertrande maintained a very traditional marriage. The couple’s union started with a formal contract listing the items each member brought to the union. The contract included Bertrande’s dowry; her dowry contained many traditional items including farm animals, linens and dresses. Many dowries contained all the items a woman needed to start her life with her spouse. Martin and Bertrande were set to start their lives together in his family’s household after the wedding. Unions formed out of the necessity to maintain property but many unions included the need to have compatible relationships. The family unit, “normally balanced a set of interest when seek partners for their daughters, so material concerns, personal factors like appearance, disposition, character, age, reputation, rank and connection played a part.” In Mr. Carles life this is evident in her father’s union to her mother. The couple married because both were generous, and constituted a good match based on the status and property they brought to the union. Her parents respected and worked well together but Mrs. Carles’s admits her parents did not marry for love. In contrast, women like the girl they called Mountain Flower had to marry incompatible men and the union often ended badly. Marriage needed both capital and compatibility to succeed. Martin and his wife lacked compatibility and Martin often upset Bertrande by overly criticizing her. When the “New Martin” appears, he is kind and loving to her so in her eyes he is a better more compatible husband then the original Martin. The lack of compatibility affected the couple’s ability to consummate their relationship. It was difficult for Martin to get the gumption to have conjugal visits with Bertrande and when they did have relations it was for the purpose of producing children and not out of affection or lust. Families produced children out of necessity. Families needed ovspring to secure secession of family land and to produce workers. Emile came from a large family in part to provide labor for the farm. At the age of 5 Emilie and her 6 siblings worked on the farm caring for the livestock and cleaning the house. Families had to farm to sustain life and all ages had to help the family farm. Martin received ridicule for his lack of children. The village priest stepped in and performed ceremonies to try to increase the couple’s fertility and libido. Martin and his wife needed to produce children in order to help the family work the land. Families needed to produce functional working members of the community. Emilie and Martin’s stories depict the traditions and expectations of early European families. From the acquisition of property, to the need for compatibility and the production of children, the unions before and during the 1800’s formed out of necessity. Love if considered only played a small role in marriage. Women like Emilie defied traditions and forged their own path in life. Martin’s marriage showed the pitfalls of a patriarchal union formed without compatibility and the need for families to maintain property. The film and autobiography perfect explain the diverse and simple life of French peasants in a traditional family setting.
Martin Guerre from Artigat had left his wife Bertrande and their son Sanxi and their inheritance to seek adventure in Spain as a mercenary. After leaving his family for nearly nine years a man claiming to be Martin returns to the village to claim his wife and land. Bertrande accepts the man as being her husband and they have another child together. Martin has a dispute with Pierre over the management of the family estate and ownership of the rents from Matins land during his absence. During their dispute a passing by veteran had claimed that "Martin" is not who he claims to be. He said that Martin had lost a leg at the battle of Saint Quentin and that he really was Arnaud de Tihl from a neighboring village. Both Martin and Arnaud had soldered together in the war, where they had became friends. The Guerre family was very divided over the story. Pierre and his sons-in-law believe the soldier's story, and Pierres daughters and Bertrande continue to believe "Martin" is Martin. As their ca...
The Return of Martin Guerre, written by Natalie Zemon Davis, is the tale of a court case that takes place in sixteenth century France. Martin Guerre is a peasant who deserted his wife and family for many years. While Martin Guerre is gone, a man named Arnaud du Tilh arrives at Martin’s village and claims to be Martin Guerre. Bertrande, who is Guerre’s wife, Guerre’s sisters, and many of the villagers, accepts the imposter. After almost three years of being happily married, Bertrande takes the fraud to court under pressure of Pierre Guerre, her stepfather and Guerre’s brother. Arnaud du Tilh is almost declared innocent, but the real Martin Guerre appears in the courthouse. Throughout this tale, many factors of the peasant life are highlighted. The author gives a very effective and detailed insight to a peasant’s life during the time of Martin Guerre. Davis does a successful job of portraying the peasant lifestyle in sixteenth century France by accentuating the social, cultural, and judicial factors of everyday peasant life.
In Janet Lewis’ “The Wife of Martin Guerre,” the author illustrates the family dynamics of the sixteenth century. Martin would legally remain a minor for the extent of his father’s lifetime, and women’s identity and importance were only known through their husbands. However, Bertrande de Rols, the wife of Martin Guerre, is known as herself in this novel, which expresses that the novel was written according to her experience as the wife of Martin Guerre. Even though it wasn’t acceptable for women to go forward with such accusations, Bertrande de Rols did the right thing by pursuing Arnaud as an impostor because she knew he was not her husband, despite what everyone else said. In sixteenth century France, women were not independent and treated as equals as they are today.
It seems as though in today’s society, suspicion lies in every corner. No one trusts anyone anymore, everyone lies, everyone steals, everyone pretends to be someone they are not. However true or false these statements might be, there is a need in today’s society to be able to explain everything, coming up with every possible lie or predicament within every story. Natalie Davis is from today’s society, and once again, she has found the need to investigate Bertrande Guerre’s role within The Return of Martin Guerre. The only pieces of evidence that are reliable come from Jean de Coras, the main judge in the trial.
The main focus of the story is on Bertrande de Rols and her place in sixteenth century society, especially as a wife. At the age of nine, Bertrande was married to Martin Guerre who was a young peasant of Basque heritage. For several years, the two have trouble consummating their marriage. In 1548, Martin runs away from his village of Artigat, France to join the Spanish army, leaving his twenty-two year old wife Bertrande and a young son. After eight years of living in quiet desperation, an imposter Arnaud du Tilh nicknamed "Pansette," shows up in the village in 1548, in the guise of Martin Guerre. It is no wonder that Bertrande would finally find fulfillment of her hopes and dreams of a better life with the new Martin. The couple's marital bliss unravels the day Arnaud argues with his uncle, Pierre Guerre, over his desire to sell off some of his ancestral land. Under Basque tradition and custom, a man is never to sell his ancestral land this causes Pierre to be suspicious of the identity of his nephew and he decides to sue Arnaud as an imposter.
After years of abandonment, an absent man presumed to be Martin Guerre appeared in front of a woman who longed for a strong love and different husband. An “obstinate and honorable” woman could no...
Davis’ The Return of Martin Guerre is challenged when trying to connect the heroes to the current or modern times. Despite Arnaud’s teetering morality, ethical behavior or actions, he was still able to develop a modern identity. He effectively presented himself in the necessary role of Martin Guerre, as though he was a professional actor or artist.
Throughout time, family dynamics continually adapt to fit an always changing society. Using the sociological imagination, I can analyze my family’s history to understand the shift between Puritan farming life to the Industrial Era to the modern-day family I live in now.
Thesis Statement: Men and women were in different social classes, women were expected to be in charge of running the household, the hardships of motherhood. The roles that men and women were expected to live up to would be called oppressive and offensive by today’s standards, but it was a very different world than the one we have become accustomed to in our time. Men and women were seen to live in separate social class from the men where women were considered not only physically weaker, but morally superior to men. This meant that women were the best suited for the domestic role of keeping the house. Women were not allowed in the public circle and forbidden to be involved with politics and economic affairs as the men made all the
Over the centuries, these methods have changed. These methods are changed because of events in history. Such events like the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, WWII, and mass numbers of Immigrants are said to be the cause for the loss of the "traditional family. Coontz states, "The Industrial Revolution destroyed the traditional family." The Industrial Era provided work for younger ages. With the age of the work force lowered, children had less time to play; the roles for women were redefined, causing more individuality with in a family. This was not the style of the traditional family, when the wife cooks the meals, takes care of kids; the husband goes to work, and supports the family, traditionally.
Family life in the 1700's was highly valued and prioritized. Back in those times families were extremely large in size. There was much inter-marriages from generation to generation, Therefore, everyone in a community was most likely related to each other. Because of these extreme connections between communities, visiting fellow family members was very popular. Many of these visits were informal and prolonged. Out of everyone in a family, the women usually corresponded the most with other relatives. The lack of decently designed roads and great distances made the matter of traveling very important in social activities. In addition, the family was looked upon as a unit of production and enterprise. Most families in the 1700's contained usually twenty to thirty people. These large numbers were due to the fact that the families were extended. Every relative lived together, even if they were distant relatives. Families with ten or twelve children were common and those with twenty or twenty-five children were not regarded as abnormal. But, usually not all the children survived. Typically, four in ten children dies before they reached the age of sixteen.
Family structure and stability have constantly evolved and been researched in aspects of sociology. Following World War II, the family ideology in the 1950’s was brought to the attention of Talcott Parsons and Robert Bales (1955) whom demonstrated how transitioning from an agricultural society to that of an industrialization one played an important role in altering family life and structure. Parsons and Bales further expressed how gender role specialization was vital in the continuous of family solidarity. The “instrumental” male father role as the leader of the family responsible for providing the income and support as the “expressive” role which is that of the female mother delivers her contribution to the family through house work and nurture
"A family is a small social group of people related by ancestry or affection, who share common values and goals, who may live together in the same dwelling, and who may participate in the bearing and raising of children. They have a physical or emotional connection with each other that is ongoing" (Vissing, 2011) and is the foundation of all societies. They can be formed by a grouping of father-mother-children or even more complicated combination of relatives. In the primary stage of family life in the United States, everyone from every generation lived together in one house. Subsequently, the idea of traditional family evolved and a married couple with children is at present, often called the traditional family. There are many types of families; however, this paper will focus on the traditional family. It will describe how the functionalist perspective, conflict perspective, and the interactionism theory apply to the sociological institution known as a family. It will explain some of the similarities and differences between the sociological theories in regards to families and how they affect the family members.
The extended family predominated pre-industrially because of the need for a large family to help tend the land or look after those who were unable to do so. Infant mortality was high so you had to produce more children to be sure of having enough help. The family were a unit of production producing only the goods needed to survive and trading the remainder. Following the Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century, it was replaced by the nuclear family which was a unit of consumption as family members became wage earners and families needed to become more geographically mobile and move to where they could find work.
To thoroughly elaborate on the institution of family we most look at the family as it was before and how much it has changed over time. Throughout the years we are recognizing that the family is slowly being replaced by other agents of socialization. Families in the past consisted of a mother and a father and most times children. We are, as many societies a patriarchal society; men are usually the head of the households. This has always been considered the norm.