Feminism

Although these stories were written before feminism became a movement per se, Colette has her own particular brand of feminism that comes through in her depiction of women. Unlike many authors of her time, she refrains from stereotyping her female characters. They come from a variety of social backgrounds, from the dance hall to the massage parlor to the upper-classes, have a variety of faults and a variety of good points. Overall, she works to depict her women characters in an even-handed and fully developed way that shows them as human beings and not just as women. Similarly, she describes many contemporary scenarios that entrap or limit women's potential in many ways. In her music hall stories, the dancers become pregnant or obsessed with money or obsolete when they grow too old for the best parts. Later, her stories about love show women having to bend in many...