“Discuss why we can call the parent’s shop in Ernaux’s La Place a real micro-cosmos.”
Annie Ernaux’s La Place concerns itself with the large and small scale of human existence in equal measure. As a narrative it tells of a father-daughter relationship, but as a sociological piece it discusses broader relationships: the relationships of people within a social system, the interactions between the stratum of society, and the roles and functions which are demanded of each person by society. Per the title, the book is a study of places, literal and figurative: the places in which people exist, and their places within them. The shop owned and run by Ernaux’s parents is one of the primary settings explored in the piece, and one could interpret it …show more content…
Ernaux’s father had been little pressured to refine his behaviour as a member of the proletariat, but his shift to a higher class demands it. As a shop owner he is part of the petite bourgeoisie, and his position in the café-épicerie is ‘dependant on a clientele that could easily take its custom elsewhere’ (Day & Jones, 1990: 14). As such, he is forced to adopt mannerisms that are otherwise unnatural to him. ‘Conscience de mon père d'avoir une fonction sociale nécessaire (...)’ (p. 73); the father is aware that he has a societal function which exists inside, and is enforced by, the shop itself. His life there is marked by repetitive performances of social niceties. He has escaped the oppressed class in the world outside, but he is dominated by the small-scale economic and social forces present within the micro-cosmos of the café-épicerie: the need to keep up appearances, the need for customers, the need to hide his frustrations and concerns. This is a unique sphere of existence with its own set of social rules and hierarchy of power, and it is one which the father lives inside much of the time. As Ernaux puts it, ‘Il ne sortira plus du monde coupé en deux du petit commerçant.’ (p.
Annie Ernaux’s La Place concerns itself with the large and small scale of human existence in equal measure. As a narrative it tells of a father-daughter relationship, but as a sociological piece it discusses broader relationships: the relationships of people within a social system, the interactions between the stratum of society, and the roles and functions which are demanded of each person by society. Per the title, the book is a study of places, literal and figurative: the places in which people exist, and their places within them. The shop owned and run by Ernaux’s parents is one of the primary settings explored in the piece, and one could interpret it …show more content…
Ernaux’s father had been little pressured to refine his behaviour as a member of the proletariat, but his shift to a higher class demands it. As a shop owner he is part of the petite bourgeoisie, and his position in the café-épicerie is ‘dependant on a clientele that could easily take its custom elsewhere’ (Day & Jones, 1990: 14). As such, he is forced to adopt mannerisms that are otherwise unnatural to him. ‘Conscience de mon père d'avoir une fonction sociale nécessaire (...)’ (p. 73); the father is aware that he has a societal function which exists inside, and is enforced by, the shop itself. His life there is marked by repetitive performances of social niceties. He has escaped the oppressed class in the world outside, but he is dominated by the small-scale economic and social forces present within the micro-cosmos of the café-épicerie: the need to keep up appearances, the need for customers, the need to hide his frustrations and concerns. This is a unique sphere of existence with its own set of social rules and hierarchy of power, and it is one which the father lives inside much of the time. As Ernaux puts it, ‘Il ne sortira plus du monde coupé en deux du petit commerçant.’ (p.