Previous
Zava
The Colonels are a group of middle-aged Herlandian women who enforce peace and keep an eye on Jeff, Terry, and Van. The Colonels always appear when there is trouble with the three men. They are very strong, organized, and stern, which repulses Terry because he expects all women to be weak and submissive. After Terry’s imprisonment, the Colonels are the ones who guard his cell.
The Colonels Quotes in Herland
The Herland quotes below are all either spoken by The Colonels or refer to The Colonels. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2: Rash Advances
Quotes
In all our discussions and speculations we had always unconsciously assumed that the women, whatever else they might be, would be young. Most men do think that way, I fancy.
“Woman” in the abstract is young, and, we assume, charming. As they get older they pass off the stage, somehow, into private ownership mostly or out of it altogether. But these good ladies were very much on the stage, and yet any one of them might have been a grandmother.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
We seemed to think that if there were men we could fight them, and if there were only women—why, they would be no obstacles at all.
Jeff, with his gentle romantic old-fashioned notions of women as clinging vines; Terry, with his clear decided practical theories that there were two kinds of women—those he wanted and those he didn’t; Desirable and Undesirable was his demarcation. The last was a large class, but negligible—he had never thought about them at all.
And now here they were, in great numbers, evidently indifferent to what he might think, evidently determined on some purpose of their own regarding him, and apparently well able to enforce their purpose.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Herland LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Colonels Quotes in Herland
The Herland quotes below are all either spoken by The Colonels or refer to The Colonels. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2: Rash Advances
Quotes
In all our discussions and speculations we had always unconsciously assumed that the women, whatever else they might be, would be young. Most men do think that way, I fancy.
“Woman” in the abstract is young, and, we assume, charming. As they get older they pass off the stage, somehow, into private ownership mostly or out of it altogether. But these good ladies were very much on the stage, and yet any one of them might have been a grandmother.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
We seemed to think that if there were men we could fight them, and if there were only women—why, they would be no obstacles at all.
Jeff, with his gentle romantic old-fashioned notions of women as clinging vines; Terry, with his clear decided practical theories that there were two kinds of women—those he wanted and those he didn’t; Desirable and Undesirable was his demarcation. The last was a large class, but negligible—he had never thought about them at all.
And now here they were, in great numbers, evidently indifferent to what he might think, evidently determined on some purpose of their own regarding him, and apparently well able to enforce their purpose.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
