Chapter 16 Documents blog

The first document depicts three seemingly upper class men seated around a table eating and drinking. The picture is titled “The Reunion of the Three Estates.” One man is dressed in black robes, presumably intended to depict the clergy. Another is dressed in more regal clothing in all of the national French colors. Lastly, we see a man dressed simply, representing the commoners. The document actually is describing a brief moment in French history when there was an unrealistic belief that perhaps all three groups could get along peacefully and easily. The drawing makes me feel a certain level of sadness. It’s so beautiful that they thought it was once realistic for the three estates to get along so seamlessly, and it’s also applicable today to the way the 1% of highest earning individuals control so much of American wealth.

The second picture depicts more of what actually happened. It shows the commoner pictured laying on the ground, FINALLY breaking out of the shackles with which he has been chained. He is actually reaching for his gun. Behind him, the clergy and nobility appear shocked and afraid, probably because they sense the imminent danger. 


I’ve made this point before, but I love how Strayer stresses the development of inequality throughout history. This is a theme we’ve discussed in class too. Though a horrible tragedy, the French Revolution does raise this rising issue of equality and the ways in which mankind has repeatedly rebelled against the cycle of oppression. 

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