Kate Long

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Abstract: Chapter 4, My Fathers Life

Main Point:  To portray Edmond in his patriarchal role and the effects of
this role on his relationship with and the behavior of his family
members.  Also, to present this role in an idealized manner, presenting
the father/child and husband/wife relationships not as they actually
existed at the time, but as the author believed they should exist. [Excellent and astute point; you could add a sentence to drive home what characterized “proper patriarchy” according to the author]

Evidence:  "But when a child had done something which deserved praise, he
duly received it in the evening in front of the assembled family, as
befitted his action (p. 122)."
The author is pointing out Edmonds devotion to acknowledging his childrens
good qualities. In France during this time period, however, it was
uncommon for parents to pay much attention to their children.

Perplexing Thing:  I originally found it perplexing the level of obedience
of Edmonds children in comparison with children today, who seem to rebel
more the stricter the parents are.  However, if this is in fact an
idealized account of the family life, the children may not have been as
obedient, or, they may not have needed to be if they were given less
attention. [yes, good point; here you give substance to “patriarchy” as an ideal]

Connections:  The Bonnie Smith reading also emphasized the main role of
the father as being the patriarch, ruling over his family.  There are also
connections between My Fathers Life and the Charlton readings.  One
example is when Charlton writes about France in the eighteenth century as
seeing "the full depiction and elaboration of the new family images...but
in reality they amounted to a propagandist campaign for radical
change...(p. 139)." [good quotation: gets to the very heart of Charleton’s interpretation and his treatment of prescriptive literature to describe the evolving image and ideals of family, womanhood, etc.]

Most Interesting Thing:  I found it interesting that Edmond is stressed as
being the patriarch, and a strict one at that, which was very common in
eighteenth century France, but he is also portrayed as being caring and
paying a great deal of attention to his children, which was not
common.  If this is a factual account, it seems that the care for the
children would be very out of place.  On the other hand, if this is an
idealized account, why would Edmond still be portrayed as stern and
domineering towards his children and even more so towards his wife? [To help here, compare Pierre and consider the difference, the shift as represented in Edme toward “enlightened patriarchy.”  Restif didn’t want to advocate permissiveness—that he saw as a danger and a corruption of “the natural.”]

Key Terms/Vocab:  Patriarch, n. 1. the male head of a family or tribal
line 2.  a person regarded as the father or founder of an order, class,
etc...  (Random House Websters College Dictionary 2nd edition, copyright
1999)[add “natural” since it was such a critical term in 18^th century literary and philosophical discourse.]


My analysis of this chapter changed after reading Charltons articles and
taking into account the historical information regarding family structure
in eighteenth century France.  The fact that, at the time My Fathers Life
was written,  the family structure was highly patriarchal and the children
in the family were in many ways disregarded, changed my view of Edmond as
a benevolent patriarch.  I realized that this, like other literary and
artistic pieces of its day, could be an idealized account of what the
author believed family life should have been like.

Kate: Well done. You’ve done a fine job of getting directly to the most important aspect of this work as a representation of the new ideals associated with the family, the child, womanhood, and the enlightened patriarch.  You write succinctly and accurately. In your presentation, you moved into other ways of viewing MFL as giving us clues of the realities of peasant life. In addition to your notion of how social mobility and material comfort led the real Edme to urge his children to take up occupations outside of the village and to see Paris as a place to be free, be sure to note how Poster and Le Roy Ladurie go further than this and also disagree on several points, too.