Three Lives (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Gertrude Stein
- First Published: 1909
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: The early twentieth century
- Setting: Bridgepoint, in the United States
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Naturalistic literature
- Subjects: African Americans, United States or Americans, Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, Class consciousness, Immigration or emigration, Women’s issues, Servants, Tuberculosis
- Locales: Bridgepoint (fictive)
Characters Discussed
Anna Federner, a middle-aged domestic servant, “the good Anna” who provides the title for the first of the three stories in the book. She is a hardworking and clean immigrant German woman who fills her life with service to others. Through caring, she exercises a measure of control over her employers, her dogs, and the young girls who are her assistants in the domestic sphere. Anna is not sophisticated or educated and is used by others because of her desire to be needed. She literally works herself to death being good to others.
Miss Mary...
[The entire page is 1345 words long]
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