Résumé
Résumé de Adam, Ève et Brid'oison
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
Readers who enjoy social history, French law and letters, the story of feminism, and sharp, argumentative essays about marriage, motherhood and the vote in the shadow of the First World War.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Imagine a country where women run the farms, factories and offices because the men are at the front. That is France in the last years of the First World War, and Paul Margueritte, a novelist who died in 1918, sees it as a turning point. His essays call for the emancipation of women, whom he names our mother, our sister, our companion and our equal. The title is a small allegory. Adam and Eve stand for natural feeling. Brid'oison stands for rigid custom and law. Let us begin with his claim that the war has changed what women will accept.
Dans ce résumé
- 1The war has freed women for goodFree
- 2Ignorance and virginity are harmful myths
- 3Every child deserves a name and a father
- 4Marriage must rest on love, not money
- 5Women should vote and enter public life
- 6The Civil Code keeps wives in subjection
- 7Divorce should be freer, faster and fairer
Point clé 1 sur 7
The war has freed women for good
Margueritte opens with a bold claim. The war, he says, has done what feminist congresses could not. Hundreds of thousands of young women and wives, freed from the guardianship of absent men, now run fields, factories, hospitals, shops and government offices.
He argues that this record cannot be undone. Women who have proved they can manage should vote tomorrow and sit as representatives the day after. Contact with pain in field hospitals has also torn away what he calls the white cloud around young girls.
He does not hate France. He wants a better one, free of the tyranny of money and of a Code a hundred years old. His rallying phrase is that peace will see the New Women.
That’s 1 of 7 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Adam, Ève et Brid'oison
What is Adam, Eve and Brid'oison about?
It is a set of essays by Paul Margueritte, written during the First World War, arguing for women's rights. It covers sex education, the dowry, unmarried mothers, the vote, marriage law, motherhood and divorce reform in France.
What does the title Adam, Eve and Brid'oison mean?
Adam and Eve stand for natural human instinct and feeling.
When was the book written and why?
Margueritte wrote it near the end of the First World War, in 1918, the year he died. He believed the war had freed women from old dependence, and he wanted law and custom to catch up.
What does Margueritte want to change about marriage?
He wants the dowry abolished and love counted among spouses' duties. He also wants wifely obedience and penalties for adultery repealed, equal management of property, and a freer divorce by consent or by one spouse's will.
Is Adam, Eve and Brid'oison easy to follow?
Yes, in the sense that it is organized in short essays with clear headings. Each takes one question, often with an anecdote, a law article or an example from abroad, so readers can enter anywhere.