LES BELLES IMAGES

De Beauvoir's novel Les Belle Images is a wonderful work of fiction which simultaneously exposes and works to subvert mainstream social ideologies. It is representative both of her philosophical leanings toward existentialism as well as her commitment to feminism and of a new social role for women. The characters in the novel are passive, having accepted as necessary the roles society has decided for them. They are shallow, interested only in how they are being perceived by others. With the exception of Laurence (the main character), all the characters are complacent, content with living according to the goals and expectations of mainstream bourgeoisie society. Laurence struggles against this lack of morality, and is discontented by the passive role of woman that she has been forced to submit to.