The theme of relations between males and females has always been topical in literature. Authors have long been using it as the background for their stories, though with a male-dominated focus. This situation shifted in the mid-nineteen and early twenty centuries, coinciding with both the acceptance of white women into colleges beginning in 1837 in the United States and the first wave of feminism, which “beg[an] with the Seneca Falls Conference of 1848 and ended with the passage of women’s suffrage in 1920” (Bailey 18), and perspectives on gender relations started to change, and society began flirting with recognizing women’s rights. Literature played a significant role in promoting this mental shift, which can be associated with the rise of feminism. The novel Herland (1915) by renowned writer and women right’s activist Charlotte Perkins Gilman is held in such regard. The book was republished in 1979, receiving renewed interest from second-wave feminists and scholars. Herland introduces a new perspective on the much-explored theme of gender roles, advocating for female autonomy and agency. However, although Herland is intended as a feminist text, it falls short because these women’s stories are told through the male gaze.
In telling the story through men’s eyes, Gilman needed to give adequate details regarding women’s views. This aspect is based on the fact that men have different perceptions of events than women. The problem with the story starts from the beginning, as it is told through Van’s unreliable memory. Gilman argues that “This is written from memory, unfortunately… “If I could have brought the material I so carefully prepared, this would be a different story” (Gilman 4). Based on such an assertion, it is evident that the story does not provide the views of women but rather the perception that Van had towards the women when he was undertaking his observations. This aspect makes the story prone to bias, as some information about the strengths and capabilities of women would be left out to ensure that they continue to be considered inferior (Gilman 10). In addition, this perception makes women lack the opportunity to tell their stories, making aspects such as the relationship between Herlandians barely explored and the text lacking in emotions, thus creating a dehumanizing perception of women.
In addition, telling the story through the gaze of men has given the story a different perception of women, which demeans their abilities. Lacking firsthand accounts of women telling their stories has made their efforts look passive, as they lacked control over the events happening around them but let events happen naturally. Gilman perceives women as nurturing, as the development of the dystopian nation in the forest is based on nurturing, as they were able to get pregnant without men (Gilman 68). Such a notion develops as she was raised primarily within a female environment as she had never been with her father since infancy, making her yearn for independence, self-respect, and self-assertion (Hill 504). Such a capability enabled them to focus on raising more women until their population increased. In addition, welcoming Van and his colleagues into the dystopian society makes women appear as hostesses. The process allows the men to realize the women’s capabilities, making it easy for them to take advantage of them. At the novel’s end, the women are discovered to be domestic, as the men can find love among themselves, regulate them, and prey on them (Baum 256). Through such events, the women are considered incomplete, as the three men were capable of doing a variety of aspects at the same time.
Gilman’s account of women in Herland does not address their sexuality, making them look inhuman. The text does not address sexual relationships until the three men visit the areas. The text focuses on how women can develop a civilization whereby cultivating the land and protecting selves. Reproduction is said to be a feature of women who can become pregnant without the help of a man. The text does not mention sexual pleasure, making them look inhuman as such neglect may indicate that women are used as an object of pleasure by men. Telling the story from the male’s perspective does not allow women to express how they deal with their sexual desires and needs. Instead, this aspect makes them be referred to as “neuters, epicenes, bloodless, sexless creatures” (Gilman 127). In addition, the text shows that women do not engage in sexual activities even after marriage (Baum 256). Throughout the text, nothing sexual about women is mentioned, not even same-gender sex, considering that they lived alone without men (Lant 293). Although the novel was written in 1915, when talking about such issues was not expected, the observation of women showing sexual desires could be used to show their sexuality. The absence of such aspects renders women less human because their sexuality is not addressed.
In Gilman’s novel Herland, the use of arranged marriages makes women inferior, as nothing is done to prevent such brutality. Subjecting women to arranged or forced marriages makes them look weak and indecisive since they are not allowed to do it out of love. This aspect is evident in the case of Alima, who, despite being uncomfortable with Terry, has no choice but is forced to participate in the marriage (Lant 301). This aspect gives Terry the authority to undertake repeated assaults in the story of Herland, making the act a central aspect of the narrative. The story puts more emphasis on the men’s activities in Herland. However, the primary intention of the story is to show that women can live without men pushing for equality (Lant 301). Such an aspect makes the readers care more about the three men and their distinctions at the expense of the women, who are the main subjects in the novel. In addition, the women in the novel mention nothing about love, making the account seem shallow in addressing feminine issues.
Men describe femininity and masculinity in Herland, raising the possibility of bias in women’s representation. While Gilman aims at promoting feminism, the story should be made by women, who would be in a better position to express themselves. The use of women as narrators would have provided different information than that provided through the gaze of men, as was the case in the book. Such an aspect has made the book provide unreliable information concerning feminism based on the authors’ perception of the different aspects they observed in the country. Among the issues that were used to portray feminism was the landscape and its surroundings (Lant 304). This aspect is based on the fact that the landscape is on a fertile plateau, which makes the land so productive. In addition, the land is aesthetically pleasing and clean (Gilman 14). Such qualities are linked to women who are always clean and keep their issues intact. The description of the various aspects of the land is made to look feminine. The use of pink houses on the land made it look feminine, as pink is usually associated with women.
Most of the physical features of the land were made using feminine themes since women occupied the land. While all females occupied the land, there was no way the land would have features representing masculine aspects. The impact of women on the land demonstrated the presence of feminine aspects in most of the land’s areas. Beautiful woven tunics polluting the river demonstrated that, while women were neat and had a sense of fashion, they still required input to make their ideas perfect (Gilman 17). The presence of faults in the Herland made the women look inferior and imperfect, making them not appear feminine. The description of the various issues linked to Herland made the story fail to effectively cover issues related to personal vanity and femininity (Gilman 78). Because the book is based on a male’s memories, there is a chance that the male will remember the wrong elements to make them look inferior and to ensure that their feminism was able to apply all around.
Since the women had lived in isolation for all that time, the emergence of the three white men was considered highly beneficial as it saved them. Based on the scenario, the women have lived in seclusion and were not exposed to the outside world, making them lack the necessary skills and knowledge to enhance their lives. Gilman is considered to reflect on her own life and her transformation. It is considered that Gilman based the story on her utopia, the private world of a mother-child, isolated in the individual home and a community of mothers and children in a socialized world (Lant 291). The isolation of the women in Herland is perceived to have had a significant influence on them, as they lacked the agency to provide learning resources for themselves. Due to a lack of exposure, their skills and thinking capacity was limited, and they required the desire to explore the outside world independently (Bailey 20). According to Fishbein (p. 1116), “Gilman had located the oppression of women and children in the home and their economic subservience to men arguing that women and children alike would benefit from wider participation in the public sphere and from greater autonomy.” In addition, the women looked happy to maintain the home and care for children, which are perceived as activities they could perform effectively. This aspect is reflected in her life as she believed she was stronger as a woman and alone, was fonder of freedom than anything else, was fearless, and would like to be free to help anybody (Hill 506). The information provided in the book shows how the women could live on their own and the successes they could achieve. In the process, the book illustrates that although the women could achieve important activities while living in isolation, they still lacked perfection in other aspects, which caused the land to experience aspects such as pollution.
In conclusion, although Gilman’s Herland is undeniably a feminist piece of literature, that fails to achieve its purpose as the account is given from a masculine perspective. Given the time constraints, the book needs to be written to its full potential because it merely observes an all-female society through the eyes of men. In this case, the book does not allow the females to express the ideas they were going through or how they perceived the issues around them. The lack of a female version of the events in Herland makes the book miss critical aspects of human life that only women can tell the world. In addition, the book explores a fraction of events that happened, as the men involved only addressed the issues they observed. In addition, the men were only three in a land that was all female, creating the likelihood that they could not explore all the things that happened or that affected women. Due to this reason, the numerous aspects of the information provided misrepresent the actual experiences undertaken in the country. As part of human nature, people do not always behave well naturally when there are strangers on their land, posing for the development of changes in women’s lives after the arrival of men. The reader needs to find out the country and women’s experiences in the location, as Gilman failed to attain such a standard.
Works Cited
Bailey, Cathryn. “Making Waves and Drawing Lines: The Politics of Defining the Vicissitudes of Feminism”, Hypatia, vol. 12, no. 3, 1997, pp. 17–28.
Baum, Rob. “From Herland to outland: Changing Anatomies of Gender Dystopia”, Arena Journal, no. 25-26, 2006, p. 265.
Fishbein, Leslie. “To Herland and Beyond: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman|, The Journal of American History, vol. 80, no. 3, 1993, pp. 1116.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “Herland.” By Charlotte Perkins Gilman – Free Ebook Download, Web.
Hill, Mary A. “Charlotte Perkins Gilman: A Feminist’s Struggle with Womanhood.” Feminist Struggles for Sex Equality, 1994, pp. 142–165. Web.
Lant, Kathleen Margaret. “The Rape of the Text: Charlotte Gilman’s Violation of Herland.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, vol. 9, no. 2, 1990, pp. 291–308.