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“La place is a pessimistic view of social conditioning and class divisions”
La place is a text that can be interpreted on many different levels. ... However, several other themes can be identified, including failure, generation gaps, the education system, the emancipation of women, and not least the French social hierarchy. ... Looking particularly at the themes of social conditioning and class divisions within La place, it is interesting to explore the ways in which she has achieved this objective, and to discuss whether she has imposed a negative point of view upon her readers. ... In reality, the experiences of Ernaux’s father would have been typical of many in his social group at that time. ... (2)” Because general surroundings and social conditioning have such a bearing on an individual, it is impossible to separate the general from the particular. ...
In La place, we are shown that everybody is conditioned to believe that the bourgeoisie possess the only legitimate culture. ... (6)”, and includes the excuse made for him by her mother: “C’est un homme de la campagne, que voulez vous. ... This is shown when writes that she used to read “la <> litérature”(8). ... She even demonstrates disillusionment with bourgeois culture when she remarks on the middle-class practice of asking after one another, and smiling at acquaintances, saying that at first she thought their gestures genuine, but later realised that “ces questions posées avec l’air d’un intérêt pressant, ces sourires, n’avait pas plus de sens que de manger bouche fermé ou de se moucher discrètement. ... In this way, the poor are repressed, and the class system is maintained. ... She reserves judgement, and simply states “Comme les autres enfants de la Vallée, elle n’était pas vaccinée. ...
One is given the impression that it is very difficult to attain higher social status. ... Her disappointment at having failed to enter the middle class is understated in the phrase “Le C. ... (11)” There is a sense of futility that even in the modern word of new educational prospects and supermarkets, the same desperate struggle to climb the social ladder continues.
Approximate Word count = 1680
Approximate Pages = 6.7
(250 words per page double spaced)
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