Pukinjalalla koreasti

Yhteiskunta-asemien tuottaminen Hilja Valtosen romaanissa Nuoren opettajattaren varaventtiili

• Anna Tuukkanen Turun yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30665/av.74778

Abstract

The construction of social distinctions in Hilja Valtonen’s Nuoren opettajattaren varaventtiili

In this article I analyse Hilja Valtonen’s popular novel Nuoren opettajattaren varaventtiili (1926) taking as my point of view the representations of social distinctions and power relations. Nuoren opettajattaren varaventtiili is a diary novel which is usually read as romance. My aim is to show that despite the fact that it tells a love story, the novel focuses strongly on the processes by which people negotiate and understand their positions in social hierarchy. In this article I ask how people position themselves and each other in the social space, how they make their positions visible, and what do they reveal about themselves through the way they classify other people?

The central question in Nuoren opettajattaren varaventtiili is whether the socially constructed subjective positions are genuine or false. The categorization of people into their “real” social groups occurs through the interpretation of their appearance, behaviour, tastes and values. Sophistication, moral respectability and self-discipline are the most salient signifiers of social status. Through them people are classified into truly civilised and quasi-civilised, or in other words, people whose cultivation is only superficial or feigned.

In Nuoren opettajattaren varaventtiili “civilization” becomes a property of middle-class individuals defined against the masses, but also the upper classes of the rural population. The masses are classified as exhibiting lack of morality, manners, sense of style and discipline, whereas the lifestyle of modern, urban people is represented as distinguished and admirable. The novel shows, however, that different groups have differential access to the mechanisms for generating and displaying their status. For example, age, sex and place of residence limit the processes of identification and differentiation.