From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Lemma.
A cocarde is a badge of folded or gathered material worn on headgear. The mother’s national cockade hangs carelessly from her cap and falls as she shakes her head at her son’s political faith. Its looseness offers a small bodily counterpoint to the young man’s rigid declarations, without establishing that she rejects every revolutionary principle. In the ensuing conversation she explicitly criticises old aristocratic privilege while denying that men can be made equal.
Places to read
- Chapter II, paragraph 13Frenchla cocarde nationale négligemment pendue à son bonnet: loosely worn national emblem. The mother enters breathless from shopping.
- Chapter II, paragraph 19Frenchfit tomber de son bonnet sa cocarde négligée: the emblem dislodged by a gesture. Her scepticism about Marat immediately follows.