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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Chapter 16: Of Conquest
Explanation and Analysis—Nation-building :
Throughout The Second Treatise, Locke turns to a motif of framing a house as a simile that represents the establishment of government—a clever pun, given that "to frame" also means to conceive of an idea or plan (for instance, the group that met to draft the constitution of the United States is also known as the "framers" of the constitution).
In Chapter 16, Locke uses this simile to explain away the idea that "conquest" could be a valid way of establishing a government:
THOUGH governments can originally have no other rise than that before mentioned, nor polities be founded on any thing but the consent of the people; […] many have mistaken the force of arms for the consent of the people, and reckon conquest as one of the originals of government. But conquest is as far from setting up any government, as demolishing a house is from building a new one in the place. Indeed, it often makes way for a new frame of a common-wealth, by destroying the former; but, without the consent of the people, can never erect a new one.
By using these terms, Locke makes clear the futility of destruction as an act of nation-building: a government is like a house, and you can't build a new house just by demolishing the old one. And the only way to establish a "new frame" for the new house is to get together and build one, just like a new government will require the full consent of the people especially in the aftermath of an old system's collapse.
In Chapter 19, Locke turns to this comparison once more:
The world is too well instructed in, and too forward to allow of, this way of dissolving of governments, to need any more to be said of it; and there wants not much argument to prove, that where the society is dissolved, the government cannot remain; that being as impossible, as for the frame of an house to subsist when the materials of it are scattered and dissipated by a whirl-wind, or jumbled into a confused heap by an earthquake.
In this passage, Locke emphasizes the importance of a functioning society in supporting a government. This time, he compares a government standing alone without a society to support it to the frame of a house standing after a storm when the rest of the house—walls, roof, floors, furniture—has been ripped away by some storm or natural disaster. A frame cannot survive in these conditions, and likewise a government cannot persist without a surrounding society. (Locke also insists that the inverse is true: a society will not last long without a government).
Throughout the Second Treatise, Locke examines the family—as a microcosm for the structure of government. Through the motif of the house and its frame explored above, Locke continues this strain of analogy by exploring the dynamics not of the household but of a literal "house."
Related Themes:
Chapter 19: Of the Dissolution of Government
Explanation and Analysis—Nation-building :
Throughout The Second Treatise, Locke turns to a motif of framing a house as a simile that represents the establishment of government—a clever pun, given that "to frame" also means to conceive of an idea or plan (for instance, the group that met to draft the constitution of the United States is also known as the "framers" of the constitution).
In Chapter 16, Locke uses this simile to explain away the idea that "conquest" could be a valid way of establishing a government:
THOUGH governments can originally have no other rise than that before mentioned, nor polities be founded on any thing but the consent of the people; […] many have mistaken the force of arms for the consent of the people, and reckon conquest as one of the originals of government. But conquest is as far from setting up any government, as demolishing a house is from building a new one in the place. Indeed, it often makes way for a new frame of a common-wealth, by destroying the former; but, without the consent of the people, can never erect a new one.
By using these terms, Locke makes clear the futility of destruction as an act of nation-building: a government is like a house, and you can't build a new house just by demolishing the old one. And the only way to establish a "new frame" for the new house is to get together and build one, just like a new government will require the full consent of the people especially in the aftermath of an old system's collapse.
In Chapter 19, Locke turns to this comparison once more:
The world is too well instructed in, and too forward to allow of, this way of dissolving of governments, to need any more to be said of it; and there wants not much argument to prove, that where the society is dissolved, the government cannot remain; that being as impossible, as for the frame of an house to subsist when the materials of it are scattered and dissipated by a whirl-wind, or jumbled into a confused heap by an earthquake.
In this passage, Locke emphasizes the importance of a functioning society in supporting a government. This time, he compares a government standing alone without a society to support it to the frame of a house standing after a storm when the rest of the house—walls, roof, floors, furniture—has been ripped away by some storm or natural disaster. A frame cannot survive in these conditions, and likewise a government cannot persist without a surrounding society. (Locke also insists that the inverse is true: a society will not last long without a government).
Throughout the Second Treatise, Locke examines the family—as a microcosm for the structure of government. Through the motif of the house and its frame explored above, Locke continues this strain of analogy by exploring the dynamics not of the household but of a literal "house."
Related Themes:
