Final Thoughts on Herland

While I may not actually want to live in society of only women, there are still some aspects of Herland that I am totally on board with. Mostly, I love the power and independence that these women posses. The women in this society have the qualities that many women today are still striving for. However, I hate to think that this is only possible in a land without men. Gilman's intention is to show that her society does not allow women to reach their full potential, but I would like to believe that this can be changed without having to exclude men from the society. Although we have made a lot of progress since Gilman's time, we definitely still have a long way to go.

Another thing I really enjoyed in this book was the way in which Gilman exposes the ridiculous ideals in regards to gender relations in our society. When the men are made to explain many of the behaviors and customs in their society, you can clearly see them struggling to provide valid reasoning for it. And when they do provide reasoning, it almost always sounds absurd.
One quote that I find somewhat comical (from Terry of course):

"We do not allow our women to work. Women are loved—idolized—honored—kept in the home to care for the children"

 I actually laughed out loud when I read this line. The fact Terry said women are idolized and honored but also kept in the home makes no logical sense, and I love Gilman for pointing this out.

The one thing I still can't get on board with is the sudden change of heart about the necessity of men in this society. At the beginning of the novel they are very clear that fathers are useless, but then by the end they suddenly believe that their society desperately needs the reintroduction of men. I feel like this change is in a sense admitting defeat, and invalidating any arguments made about the worth and potential of women. 

Reproduction in Herland????

After reading Herland, one of the concepts that stood out the most to me in this Utopia was how there are literally no men. When we had our class discussion on Herland, we talked about how this is the first Utopia we have read about that has only women. We shared, as a class, that a place like this could be appealing and not appealing for a few different reasons. One person shared how this Utopia would be enticing because it would eliminate the fear of being abducted. In our society as we know it, there is a stereotypical fear that most women are raised being encouraged to "not go out at night alone," or other similar instructions to prevent men from harming them. However, despite this positive repercussion of a Utopia with only women, the actual issue I have with this Utopia is their explanation for how reproduction occurs.

I might be being overly critical, and not allowing my imagination to entertain the idea that women producing people the way they do in Herland is possible, but as soon as I read that I could not take this place seriously. It does not seem even theoretically possible for the biology of a female species to not only produce babies without a male, but males are not even being reproduced as offspring either. There are some existing species that can reproduce on their own, but they still make other male/female offspring. I do not know if I believe that a Utopia should have one gender. In my opinion, is defies the way our society functions so much so that it also almost simultaneously discourages the idea of community that Utopia requires. Granted that this Utopia is technically a community of females, it seems extraordinarily limited.  

I think that when we have our underlying class discussions about how we want to eventually define Utopia, that we should seriously consider wording that will promote the definition encompassing a diverse community. I think it will be hard when analyzing any Utopia where to define the line between community, the like-mindedness of the Utopians, and the existence of the individual. It does not appear as though Herland has a perfect balance, since the three men offset it so much. Terry especially did not seem content in this Utopia, which makes me wonder how a Utopia could be classified as a Utopia if it doesn't make everyone who goes there essentially want to stay forever? Again, it reminds me of the possibility of multiple Utopias existing at the same time.

The Marriage Union in Herland

As a female reader, I must be frank and admit that Herland left me with mixed emotions.  The second half of this book slaps us in the face with a three-couple wedding - in a society where the women clearly get off well on their own, who would have guessed that they would even consider it?  In the beginning of the novel, Somel and Zava talk to the three men about their observations of fatherhood in animals.  Zava says, "'of course we see, with our birds, that the father is as useful as the mother, almost.  But among insects we find him of less importance, sometimes very little.  Is it not so with you?'"  After a vague answer from Terry, she goes on to say, "'we have cats...the father is not very useful'" (41).  From what the women have seen, fathers play a very small role in the raising of a child. Later on in the novel, the men hint that it is mostly the women that raise the children in their country. Since having and raising children is the core value in Herland, what benefit could they possibly see in reestablishing a bi-sexual race?

In coming to terms with this plot twist, I had two distinct feelings: one, that the women should be allowed to marry without concern, for being in a relationship doesn't make any one of them weaker as a character (just as in reality); two, that the women's actions and desire for marriage fall into the stereotypical expectations of a woman (particularly in the 20th century).  It is clear that the women truly have no real need for men in their society, but they seem to prefer to have the men given the opportunity.  As a reader, this feels like a step back from Gilman's initial intention of this novel. The addition of the marriages seems to take away from Gilman's initial statement in this story: that women can be independent and create just as good of a society as men can - if not even better. While some "good" did come out of this plot twist - such as Alima finally standing up to Terry and not looking back once - I do not feel that this was a vital part of Herland's story.  To discuss the topic of women's view of relationships, I feel that Gilman could have simply written a separate story.


Reference:


Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Herland. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2015. Print.