The Great Cat Massacre Summary

Joey Alejandro
Casey Aubin
English
13 May 2013
The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History by Robert Darnton The Great Cat Massacre is a book that has a very unusual title, considering the fact that it is a book that discusses the history of cultural French stories and history. This isn’t some ordinary book that gives a boring, long and repetitive view of history. The majority of historical texts look at history from a political point of view; the actions of kings and queens, how politics changed, and famous political figures during those times. However, Robert Darnton does not follow the old style of viewing history through historical figures, but instead he portrays it through the eyes of other people. The
The topics discussed are quite interesting, talking and explaining about fairy tales and cat massacres. Darnton explains, in the most peculiar way, the origin of children’s stories and other tales from French history as well as some academic aspects during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Great Cat Massacre reveals the secrets and mysteries of that time period through his stories and essays, which keeps the reader entertained and longing for more. The opening chapter of the book, “Peasants Tell Tales: The Meaning of Mother Goose”, provides a historical reading of the many fairy tales we were told as young innocent children. These fairy tales had everything but happy endings and sweet morals. The gruesome truth is revealed for each fairy tale including Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty,
The story is an account from an apprentice named Nicolas Contat who worked in a shop called Rue Saint Severin. The article talks about how the lives of these apprentices in these shops were difficult and how they were extremely mistreated by their master (Darnton, 76). During these times it was a trend to keep cats; so many Masters, or bourgeois, as the workers called them, had a passion for keeping them. One bourgeois kept twenty-five cats and had their portraits painted and fed like royalty (Darnton, 76). The apprentices were having their own problems with stray cats that would howl all night and prevent them from getting any sleep and working throughout the day in exhaustion. It was until one night where Contat, and his two friends Leveille and Jerome, decided to resolve this. Leveille had a talent for mimicry so he had gone up next to his Master’s bedroom and screeched like a cat all night preventing them from sleeping. When morning arrived the Master and Mistress commanded the apprentices to get rid of the kids; and the gleefully did so. They grabbed all their tools and went out to capture and beat the cats to death; they stashed some in the gutter and hung them up on gallows after declaring them guilty. After the apprentices were finished, they laughed and laughed and thought it was such a funny joke. However, their