Three Lives

Three Lives tells the story of three common women, living in Bridgepoint, a fictional town based on Baltimore. The three stories are independent of each other, but share much more than a same town. The First Story, "The Good Anna" tells the tale of life and death of a housekeeper Anna, and her difficulties with unreliable under servants and "stray dogs and cats". Although her job is hard and often quite dull, Anna remains happy with here green parrot that brings colors to her life. "Melanctha" focuses upon the distinctions and blending of race, sex, gender, and female health. The main character Melanctha, daughter of a black father and mixed-race mother in segregated Bridgepoint, goes throughout the life on a quest for knowledge and power, as she is dissatisfied with her role in the world. "The Gentle Lena" follows the life of Lena, a German girl brought to Bridgepoint by a cousin. Lena begins her life in America as a servant girl, but is eventually married to Herman Kreder, the son of German immigrants. Both Herman and Lena are marked by extraordinary passivity, and the marriage is essentially made in deference to the desires of their elders. Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright and art collector, best known for Three Lives, The Making of Americans and Tender Buttons. Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and made France her home for the remainder of her life. Picasso and Cubism were an important influence on Stein's writing. Her works are compared to James Joyce's Ulysses and to Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time.