Emilie Carles lived in a sleepy little village, as she wrote in her stirring memoir, A Life Of Her Own. However, change is never easy, and as they say, it waits for no one. In 1900, the whole world was in the throes of change.
Europe had been experiencing cataclysmic changes brought on by the industrial revolution. France was no exception. The country had been trying to catch up to the scientific and technological advances of industrial giants like England and Germany. As a result, it affected not only the whole country of France but also individuals, from the crowned heads to the little villages up in the Alps, like the one Emilie Carles wrote about in her book. Emilie Carles’ life was not easy in the face of all this change. First of all, her mother died when she was very young.
Not having the support of her mother to guide her, she had to work very hard in terrible conditions with her father in the fields of the Claree Valley. They did not have the innovations of machines that were helping farmers all over Europe. Her life was very simple in this village, and like many families of that time, her life was ruled by a very strong patriarchal father. However, even with this, she was somehow swept into the air of newness that was in the air. It could have also been because she had no close female role model, that she was not socialized as a second-class citizen like many of the women of that time. Once Carles began going to school, she realized that she was smart and that she was destined for something more and something better. Changes were coming slowly for some in the village, but she could see that changes were happening even there.
One of the things that changed was that many of the men, and sometimes their families, were giving up work in the fields for a new life in the growing cities down off the Alps. The rural life was changing because many people were also giving up the small cottage industries that had been so much a part of village life. Activities like spinning and weaving were now being done by huge machines in factories. Many of these specialized craftsmen were put out of work because it was done so much faster and cheaper by the machines. As a result of this, many of the villages, including the one that Emilie Carles lived in, were slowly becoming deserted. Another change that Carles noticed was the growing sense of patriotism that many of the people in her village had.
This patriotism was due to the increased sense of nationalism that most countries in Europe were passing along to their citizens. It was a race, and Germany, England, and France were all in it. The race was for technology and open markets. England was in the lead, with control of the economics of many countries on other continents.
France was also a part of this race to colonize and gain markets for its products. Emilie knew that she would have to leave this quaint but intellectually stifling environment if she wanted to be a part of the changes that the new century offered. She struggled and persevered, eventually going to school and becoming a teacher. However, she did not leave the backward land of her early life forever; she returned to it and married, eventually moving back to the village which she felt was a very original place.
In many ways, the village had changed as a result of the war, but in many ways, it was still the same place of her memories. This book was very good because it shows you that there are good and bad aspects to progress and to keeping things the way they are. In her book, she likened these quaint little villages to cheese. Each town makes a cheese that is unique because it is not exactly like any other cheese made by anyone else. For Emilie Carles, she saw the worth that these villages have in providing a glimpse of a life that no longer exists due to the changes that all such rural communities experienced after the turn of the century.
