The Importance of Events free essay sample

Swells specific redefinition of the word event is stated as, sequences of occurrences that exult in a transformation of structures. (227) The occurrence is the taking of the Pastille, which resulted In a transformation of the French Revolution. In modern America, and In many parts of the world, the people Is a term that that Is used to symbolize democracy and union. It is that specific phrase that gives individuals freedom and liberty. However, in 1 8th century France, the people had a more demeaning definition.The People was a term that was tied to the lowest of class in France and other monarchies across Europe. During this time, the taxing system was eased on the Third Estate providing the majority of the funds to stimulate the economy since the Clergy and Nobility were exempt. However, with 98 percent of the population belonging to the lower class, the funds simply were not available. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Events or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page At the end of the 18th Century, costs to live rose 62 percent while wages only grew 25 percent compared to the beginning of the century making living near impossible let alone providing to the monarchy government.Citizens of France were to live under the laws set by the highest order of power and were given no opportunity to voice their opinions. It is these citizen Inequalities that the Battle of the Pastille brought to great attention. After declaring this not as a legitimate revolution based on popular sovereignty, the National Assembly had the foundation to set up a Cleveland and equal revolution on the government. During the peak of the monarchy, patriots regarded violence as an irrational form of conspiracy towards the government.Therefore, the taking of the Pastille was considered disastrous news to the National Assembly. They believed that the effects of the angry mob would only provoke the king even further, causing a major revolt by the monarchy. However, this was not the case and the king drew back his military In Paris. The question then was whether or not the taking of the Pastille was an appropriate means to cause this effect. The members of the National Assembly had a hard time interpreting when an act of popular violence was deemed right or wrong since they did not want barbarism to become a means of the revolution.As Swell states, the boundary between legitimate and illegitimate popular violence, between revolution and rebellion, could never be definitively defined. (244) There was simply no definite line that could define an act of violence s acceptable or not by Just glancing at the case. It took many days and long debates for the National Assembly to finally declare the battle of the Pastille as an acceptable and necessary event even if it meant popular violence.The actual battle only took several hours but the effects were not clearly known to the National Assembly for legitimate popular sovereignty. As stated in the previous paragraph, it was hard for the members of the National Assembly to categorize the Battle of the Pastille as an appropriate response in reforming the monarchy of France. After many days of back ND forth discussions, the consensus was that the Battle of the Pastille was not only an accepted response of the citizens, but also that it was an event that had resulted in the ideas of the revolution.This was significant since they had defined that most of the time change does not happen from certain occurrence directly. It is the time after that makes that occurrence transform a structure. To transform an occurrence into an event, a structure must have been created. The structure of the French Revolution was built up from ideas of equality, acceptable violence, and amount of time it takes or an idea to be created into a legitimate event.By defining the word event in terms of the taking of the Pastille, Swell explains how a simple action or occurrence, can lead to a revolution. He brings out the meaning to the certain inalienable rights that seem essential in modern societies as well as describing some of the necessary consequences that may arise when trying to transform a structure. He also makes the statement that change takes time to make it worth meaning. With this analysis, it is clear why Swell redefines the term event to mean more than Just a common occurrence.