The Dynamite Club by John Merriman - Literary Analysis Essay

Introduction

The Dynamite club is a book that talks about the chronicles of the 1894 bombing at the Parisian Cafe where a deadly pattern was set during the subsequent quarter century. The article was released with a lot of questions on why it revolved around the economic and social inequalities as seen today. The book also talks about two cities; the increasing neighborhood of the west and the People's Paris. The author of the boom is John Mustard Merriman a history professor at the Yale University narrated this fascinating story to remind people about the 'war on terror' which took place in 1894 (Merriman 26). This essay will analyze the arguments of the author.

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Summary

In 1984 Emily Henry who was drinking beer at the Parisian restaurant left a bomb as a gift (Lantolf & Larysa Bobrova 51). After the explosion, the story rocked the French capital concerning the actions of Henry and this facilitated war against the bourgeoisie a place where bombs used to be set publicly thus killing President McKinley as well as the president of France (Fuglister 318). The book also elaborated that since France, in particular, was a place of power, elegance it was also lined with posh outdoors cafes and department stores. However, in the area, many people never prospered since most of them lived in dire poverty. Most intellectuals and workers found there was because of anarchism (a political philosophy) which overthrew Paris (Franks 8). 'The Dynamite Club' is also a brilliant book that showed how civilians targeted Paris by seeking martyrdom as they knew that when they provoked the government, they would succeed to become the first terrorist in the modern history.

Analysis

'The Dynamite Club' is a book that has a perceptive portrayal of the historical period during the development of anarchism due to the reaction of political and poverty exclusion (Smith 559). The author does this by addressing the issue of terrorism and how it was motivated behind elucidates of execution and repression. Merriman begins this illustration by defining modern terrorism and the impact it has on innocent citizens. This is very clear and seen because Merriman shows how terrorism was anchored in religious difference instead of class distinction as faced by western society in the 20th century (Dingley 19). However, when this incident is compared between Paris and the European culture, nature was different because such events took place in the 19th century.

The primary reason why the author was showing the difference was that he wanted to find out why the violence of terrorism became a driving force to some people who had no good reason of bringing the issues of the past to the present (Saiya 10). For instance, the book traced the belief of Emile Henry a guillotined who bombed the Cafe Terminus with no reason and ended up killing one person dining at the restaurant and two police officers (Smith 430). The author manages to elaborate on this scenario by blending the history of anarchism and advocates of Emilie's life and that of sociological and psychological inquiries of the advocacy of violence directed against random innocent citizens (Novak 25).

Merriman arguments immediately he depicted the book were concerning the bombing at the Cafe and the reason why Emile chose the particular spot. The author does this by proposing that there was an elusive connection between the Islamic fundamentals and terrorism spread by the anarchists in the nineteenth century (Bangura 115). Merriman argued that the 19th century was an era of a changing world and that is why Emile was not an ordinary terrorist but instead a bourgeois intellectual that had a propertied family. The author also added that his status in the society was the reason why he never targeted the oppressive political authority but instead went for Parisians Cafe diners (Merriman 48). This is the reason why the author claimed that Emile was the first modern terrorist.

The reason behind these claims was to make the readers familiar with fin-de-siecle Paris. The author did this by defining the large boulevards designed by George Haussman and the reason why they were purposed to destroy people in Paris during the city's rebellions which brought by the French Revolution (Clay 522). Haussmann did the set up after he redesigned the city after narrowing cities to make them capable of making traffic to flow which allowed commodities and people to flow with ease while passing through the town. The boulevards also allowed the government to suppress rebellion similar to how it did in the Paris Commune. The author also gave details on how the Parisian bourgeoise enjoyed the wealth by showing how they were putting on jewels and elegant clothing (Wickremasinghe n.p). Merriman did this by showing how the city had magnificent buildings like the Opera, with plush carriages and lights particularly the luxurious cafes, restaurants, and shops located in Paris.

Conclusion

The author tried to contrast the dark and dreary suburbs and the living conditions of the impoverished working class. People who were employed used to walk along the suburbs while going to serve the wealthy bourgeoisie people. Most workers also lost their jobs at the whim of the bosses, and this made them struggle due to lack of money. The Paris, in other words, is a city that had a bitter and sharp contrast with divisions that showed how some people survived and how others ha luxury lives.

Works Cited

Bangura, Abdul Karim. "Terrorism and 'Islamic Terrorism': The Definition Debate." Journal of Islamic Studies and Culture, vol. 3, no. 2, 2015, pp. 114-135., doi:10.15640/jisc.v3n2a17.

Clay, Richard. "Smells, Bells and Touch: Iconoclasm in Paris during the French Revolution." Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 35, no. 4, 2012, pp. 521-533., doi:10.1111/j.1754-0208.2012.00537.x.

Dingley, James. "Classical Social Theory and the Understanding of Contemporary Religious Terrorism." Understanding Religious Violence, 2018, pp. 7-38., doi:10.1007/978-3-030-00284-8_2.

Franks, Benjamin. "Introduction: Anarchism and Moral Philosophy." Anarchism and Moral Philosophy, 2010, pp. 1-10., doi:10.1057/9780230289680_1.

Fuglister, Katharina. "Where Does Learning Take Place? The Role of Intergovernmental Cooperation in Policy Diffusion." European Journal of Political Research, vol. 51, no. 3, 2011, pp. 316-349., doi:10.1111/j.1475-6765.2011.02000.x.

Lantolf, James P., and Larysa Bobrova. "Happiness Is Drinking Beer: a Cross-Cultural Analysis of Multimodal Metaphors in Spain." International Journal of Applied Linguistics, vol. 22, no. 1, 2012, pp. 42-66., doi:10.1111/j.1473-4192.2011.00292.x.

Merriman, John. The Dynamite Club: How a Bombing in Fin-De-siecle Paris Ignited the Age of Modern Terror. Yale University Press, 2016.Novak, Derry. "The Place of Anarchism in the History of Political Thought." Anarchism as Political Philosophy, 2017, pp. 20-33., doi:10.4324/9781315082356-4.

Saiya, Nilay. "Religion, State, and Terrorism: A Global Analysis." Terrorism and Political Violence, 2016, pp. 1-20., doi:10.1080/09546553.2016.1211525.

Smith, D. "The Liberation of Painting: Modernism and Anarchism in Avant-Guerre Paris." French Studies, vol. 68, no. 4, 2014, pp. 559-560., doi:10.1093/fs/knu162.

Smith, F. W. "Notes On The Analysis Of Dynamite And Gelatine-Dynamite." Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 21, no. 5, 1899, pp. 425-431., doi:10.1021/ja02055a009.

Wickremasinghe, Chanaka. " Immunities Enjoyed by Paris Officials of States and International Organizations." Law Trove, 2018, doi:10.1093/he/9780198791836.003.0012.