18th Century Peasant Life Essay

Stereotypical peasant life in the eighteenth century revolves around the poor, subsistent farmers who are economically tied to the land struggling to survive day-to-day. Akin to the focus on labor and food, the fairy tales, which were mainly oral traditions during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, usually ended with the protagonist being rewarded with food or an aristocratic lifestyle void of manual labor. Thus, the fantasies of the peasants, to eat and relax, were realized through fairy tales. However, Darnton, in his analysis of other fairy tales told during this period across France, reveals another facet of peasant life. Darnton refers to the several million peasants who move about the countryside in search of work, food, money, …show more content…
Beginning with the Great Depression, thousands of workers across the nation were unexpectedly unemployed. With families to feed with little to no income, these people quickly resembled the downtrodden eighteenth century peasant class of France. So, some took to the roads to travel to other cities in a constant search for work; whether the job lasted one week or one month, they were desperate to work and earn some money to aid in survival. Shanty towns dotted the American West and familiar “urban legends,” similar to classic fairy tales, began to spread. Human suffering and hard fought survival in austere economic conditions lead to tremendous drama in the eighteenth century as well as contemporary America. How acceptable is Darnton's level of generalization in this analysis? Does his analysis lead to a clear and defensible definition of "Frenchness." Might there be other ways plausibly to interpret these tales? If so, how, and are these incompatible with Darnton's …show more content…
Darnton asserts that the tales “dramatized the struggle over scarce resources, which pitted poor against the rich.” In other words, the fairy tales are deeply rooted in societal norms, conventions, and realities. Yet, he dismisses a later story which involves a peasant gaining the upper hand on a king and his princes as not being “a gutlike determination to overthrow the social order” because it was merely “ribaldry.” Darnton’s main assertion is that the tales offer the peasant’s perspective and ideals through dramatic stories. However, he refuses to take the leap into the tales providing an insight into eighteenth century peasant social unrest and unhappiness with the Old Regime. The intent and purpose of the tales cannot shift depending on the volatility of the analyses potential outcomes. Therefore, Darnton’s argument is correct, but inconsistent as the stories begin to approach incendiary political and societal