‘Political Upheavals’
Durkheim elucidates, “Great political upheavals are sometimes said to increase the number of suicides. Morselli has conclusively shown that facts contradict this view. All the revolutions which have occurred in France during this century reduced the number of suicides at the moment of their occurrence. In 1830, the total fell to 1,756 from 1904 in 1829, amounting to a sudden drop of nearly 10 per cent. In 1848 the drop is no les; the annual figure changes from 3,647 to 3,301. During the years 1848-49, the crisis which has just shaken this decrease is more and more perceptible the more serious and prolonged the crisis.” The imagery of the upheavals exposes the colossal annihilation of lives that would have reinvigorated suicides. However, the impression of the upheavals is contrary to what is predictable for the incidence of suicide diminishes ominously. Accordingly, the connection between political disorders and suicide is converse.
A Widow’s Endurance
Durkheim illustrates, “This is also why woman can endure life in isolation more easily than man. When a widow is seen to endure her condition much better than a widower and desires marriage less passionately, one is led to consider this eased in dispensing with the family a mark of superiority; it is said that woman’s affective faculties, being very intense, are easily employed outside the domestic circle, while her devotion is indispensable to man to help him endure life.” The imagery renders women essentially sensible and intrinsically sturdy which accords them a privilege relative to the males. A widow can effortlessly endure in absence of a man, but it is not the case with widowers. Accordingly, a widow’s likelihood of committing suicide is inferior relative to that of a widower. Widows cope relatively well with the departures of their spouses which empowers them to repel the enticement of suicide.
