"Three Lives" is a collection of three stories describing the life lives of working-class American women. Her heroines are one's that won't be given the top storylines in romantic novels. They are plain, often weak, regular women whose lives weren't marked by bright events like love or happiness but were still spectacular in their deep symbolism, helping others better understand life's meaning. Gertrude Stein got the inspiration for this work from Flaubert's "Three Tales," which she translated on her brother's advice to improve her French. Inspired by Flaubert's stories' deep symbolism, Stein decided to bring the subject lines into the new settings.