The heads of the Patriot: An ambiguous figure from the 19th century

The genealogy of the Patriot is a complex one in that the figure of the Pat riot has two heads. in this article, we will sue a variety of discursive ob jects to analyse the figure's two major faces: the tribune and the peasant. In focusing on the historical and discursive foundations of the tribune--w hose emblem is Papineau--we see that this aspect of the figure was construc ted during the Patriot party's fortunate period, then reduced to silence in the following decades. In discourse as it subsequently developed, through the historical writings of Francois-Xavier Garneau, novels of the earth and the illustrations of Henri Julien, the patriot was transfigured, becoming the 'habitant'. Taking into consideration the figure's evolution and the va rious discursive models arising from it, we offer a serial examination of t hese texts and images, showing how the new patterns take up and maintain fe atures that originally belonged to the figure's other face.