Blog 3: Option #5

The Tables Have Turned 

Charlotte Gilman was a journalist involved in the first wave of the feminism movement. Gilman wrote Herland to emphasize the inequality of women during the 1900s. When Terry, Jeff and Van hear about this “strange women land” they didn’t believe it. They couldn’t imagine that there was a “country where no men lived—only women and girl children” (Gilman 10). These men, especially Terry didn’t understand how a country could function without men present. While the men are bickering about what a civilization like this could possibly look like, Terry thought that the men “mustn't look for inventions and progress; it'll be awfully primitive” (Gilman 21).  When the three men arrived in the hinterland they were amazed at the perfect cultivation and the beauty this country embodied. Van sees the civilized country and can only can come to one conclusion, “there must be men."    

As they spend more and more time in Herland they do not see one man, and after they learn the history behind this all, they began to accept that these women had developed this land on their own.

During this time in our history women were obligated to do two things, “take care of the home—and the children"(Gilman 110). The women were surprised to hear this because in their country there was no sex tradition, “There was no accepted standard of what was "manly" and what was "womanly" (Gilman 115). When Jeff insisted on taking Celis fruit basket because he didn’t think a woman should carry anything Celis was offended. She was not weaker than Jeff in any sense and was willing to do the dirty work. Van starts to think women can do things that are assigned to only men. Then the men start to see a message conveyed through the women’s actions. They are capable of all that man can do and Van thinks about this and relates them to animals. Just because one is labeled a certain sex doesn’t mean they are not able to complete the task of the opposite sex. Van thinks of it in resemblance to race horse, “one does not call a race horse weak because it is visibly not a cart horse” (Gilman 116).

Overcoming this wall of sexism is seen as a major step of importance to Gilman throughout the book. Motherhood also is an overarching theme throughout Herland. The women of Herland think of motherhood as almost a religion. To them God would be the mother who spreads love to the whole universe. Motherhood is also a way they keep social organization within in their country. Children are not always raised by their mother, based on the children’s capabilities they are raised by specialist to better their function in society. Motherhood was the highest calling to these women and men could were in capable of this. This capability gave women power, which the men almost envied. Knowing that they could not be considered powerful in this country of all women made clear to them their status of being a men in this land wasn’t enough, they had to earn it.  

Gilman’s presentation of these themes throughout the book really opened my eyes to a whole new perspective on the struggles women like Gilman faced during this time. I almost was able to put myself in the shoes of the women like Celis who questioned why women were so deprived and I too began criticize our society for its discrimination against women during this time. I would recommend this book to everyone! It gave a less factual and more mystical/interesting approach to the factors that led women to fight for their equality. The Herland women symbolized what women fought for, for years and years.