Alice Snedden once wrote ‘The Times They Were A-Changin’, and though her book has come to be regarded as a classic, it was also ahead of its time. At the time, there were very few female novelists, and Snedden’s contribution was very significant in that she was neither a victim nor an outsider, and managed to combine the personal and the professional in an engaging manner. Her story is focused on two different personalities – Alice Snedden, a woman who works as an engineer in the North Sea, and her husband David, a blaupunk artist, both of whom manage to live and work successfully alongside others from their nationalities in the industrial revolution era. However, things do not always go as planned and David’s professional life takes an unexpected turn, leaving Alice in a position of being alone and out of money. The circumstances of this are determined by fate, but are also affected by the ambitions and self-destructive nature of the woman who lives with David. Alice’s sudden change of heart about her marriage, and consequent separation, have the effect of making her lose money, as well as her title, David.
What occurs between these two women, and Alice Snedden’s experience of the industrial revolution, is a common thread which shows the effect of public image on the person’s real world identity. While many of us would expect the change in income, status or marital status to change the perception of our identity, the fact is that identity is not necessarily fixed by the income or status of one person, even if that person happens to have had a public career. Identity is a sense of who we are, what we want our real life to be like, and what we aspire to become in the future, and Alice Snedden’s poignant novel gives us an insight into how being both can affect the perception of ourselves and our private and public identity.
For any woman going through the experience of losing a husband or having her public identity damaged by circumstances beyond her control, it is impossible to ignore the effect of public image on personal life. In particular, Alice Snedden’s story presents an opportunity for all of us to reflect on how public images can shape our lives, as well as the value of personal integrity. Her research on the lives of women within the industrial working world, particularly the Victorian age, offers a unique insight into how working in a crowded, hot and humid workplace, can affect the character and determination of a woman. And these factors can, importantly, determine the length of our public life.