How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Gigi.
Quote #7
AUNT ALICIA: The saucer must look so much a part of your fingers that it could only be removed by surgery.
You had to be perfect if you wanted to land a rich guy. No detail was too small in a woman's training.
Quote #8
MADAME ALVAREZ: I would only entrust her to man that would say, "I'll take care of her. I'll answer for her future.
Madame is looking out for Gigi's best interests, but she is not telling Gaston he must marry Gigi. An acceptable arrangement in this culture is a legal contract spelling out his obligations to keep her as his mistress in a nice home with plenty of dresses and servants.
Quote #9
GASTON: Imagine this if you can: Here is a girl, living in a moldy apartment, decaying walls. Worm-ridden furniture, surrounded by filth…
HONORÉ: You're ruining my lunch.
GASTON: Nothing to look forward to but abject poverty. My heart was touched. I wanted to help her. I offered her everything: house, car, servants, clothes…and me.
HONORÉ: And?
GASTON: She turned me down.
HONORÉ: Turned you down?
GASTON: Turned me down
HONORÉ: Impossible!
GASTON: It's not impossible. It just happened.
No comment. Well, maybe one comment. It's inconceivable to Gaston that a young woman might not want for herself something that a wealthy man wants for her. Partly this is because Gaston is a spoiled brat, but it's also a result of cultural expectations for poor women. That's why Colette's novel was a best-seller—it told a very unusual story.