Reading and Journal Questions on
Chalotte Perkins Gilman's
Herland (1915)
UTOPIAN ISSUES
- Is Gilman's utopia more like Bellamy's or Morris's? (N.B. This is actually a pretty
complicated question.)
- How did this utopia come about? Compare to the causality of Bellamy, Wells, and Morris. What are the political dimensions of this? What does this show us about Gilman's views of reason and human nature?
- What does the physical location and climate of Herland symbolically tell us about women's relation to men and about their place in culture?
- What particular aspects of then-contemporary culture is Gilman critiquing? Not just gender issues but more general aspects of how society is organized and what its chief priorities ought to be. Which of her critiques still seem reasonable today?
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
- What was going on in 1915 when this book was written? Can you see any trace of
contemporary events in Gilman's critique of society?
- Although much of the novel seems remarkably modern, there are certain attitudes in Herland that are clearly out-of-date remnants of nineteenth-century ideology.
- What do you think of Gilman's attitudes towards race and the physical expression of sexuality?
- Are there any other areas where you feel the book is particularly dated?
STRUCTURAL/ LITERARY ISSUES
- As a utopia, Herland is closer to non-fictional forms than to the genre of Romance. Still, can you see any traces of the Romance structure in the novel, other than the obvious fact that this is also a "romantic" story? What is the relationship of the Romance quest and romantic events?
- Obviously, one of the main structural elements of the novel is the comparison of the three men -- Terry, Jeff, and Van. What is your original estimation of each of these men? How does your sense of them change throughout the story?
- To what degree is Van's narrative "objective"? Is he capable of seeing Herland clearly? Where do his preconceptions show through? Why do you think that Gilman chose to have a male narrator? Is this part of her process of verification?
GENDER ISSUES
- In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir maintains that Woman in Western culture has generally been seen as the Other, the opposite of what is seen as normative, i.e. male. Robin Roberts extends this hypothesis to a speculation that women are symbolically encoded as aliens in much American SF (in her 1993 book, A New Species: Gender and Science in Science Fiction -- it's on Reserve; check it out).
- So, are Gilman's women more like Eloi or Morlocks? Who is the Other in Herland, men or women?
- What stereotypes of women do the men hold when they arrive in Herland? Which of these are systematically disproven?
- Where do the men and women agree on stereotypes/definitions of masculinity and
femininity? What traits does Gilman seem to consider "naturally" female and male? To what degree do which of these notions continue to be accepted today?
(N.B. Many feminists would heartily object to the "essentialism" of Gilman's idea that there are innate biological determinants of masculinity and femininity. They would say that our sex, male or female, is physically determined, but our gender, masculine or feminine, is socially constructed.)
- What is the attitude of Gilman's women to science? How is this different from the usual presentation of women's relationship with science, especially as portrayed in SF (remember Weena)?
- Where do Gilman's women fit on our Animal -- Human --Machine grid? There are a number of hive images in the book; how do they modify the book's utopian import?
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Last update: 1/26/97