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2) “Here everything was different. There was no sex-feeling to appeal to, or practically none. Two thousand years’ disuse had left very little of the instinct; also we must remember that those who had at times manifested it as atavistic exceptions were often by that very fact, denied motherhood.” (92) How would you compare sexuality in Herland to the bi-sexual world? Is sexuality innate? What is Gilman’s view of sexuality? Why do you think Gilman created a sex-less utopia??
3) “We had expected a dull submissive monotony and found a daring social inventiveness far beyond our own expectation…We expected pettiness and found a social consciousness beside which our nation looks like quarreling children…We expected hysteria and found a standard of health and vigor, a calmness of temper…this whole thing is deduced unnatural. I want to find some flaw in all this perfection.” Do we discard what seems to be perfection and look for the flaw?
4) “Life is struggle, has to be…if there is no struggle then there is no life—that’s all” Is life a constant struggle up the anthill? Is overcoming obstacles perceived as achievement in life?
5) “There you have the start of Herland! One family, all descended from one mother! She lived to see a hundred and twenty five great granddaughters born; lived as Queen-Priestess-Mother of them all; and died with a nobler pride and a fuller joy than perhaps any human soul has ever known-she alone has founded a new race!” (57) Gilman doesn’t address completely the issue of race in her utopia. However, we notice that Herland society consists of only white women. What is a proper explanation for Gilman’s white women only society in the first place?
6) “Alima was in a cold fury. She wanted him [Terry] killed-actually. There was a trial before the local Over Mother, and this woman, who did not enjoy being mastered, stated her case.” (132) Can we argue that even in Herland, certain human behavior, i.e. Alima’s hostility toward Terry is inevitable?
7) The physical location of Herland is described as being “up yonder,” “way up,” “in the high distance,” and it is also described as remote or cut off from the rest of the world. The climate is described as “semitropical” and “a first-rate climate.” “On the higher part of the country, near the backing wall of mountains, they had a real winter with snow. Toward the south-eastern point, where there was a large valley with a lake whose outlet was subterranean, the climate was like that of California. . .” Does Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s description of the physical location and climate of Herland symbolically tell us about women’s relation to men and their place in culture at the time the book was written? If so, what does it tell us? http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~sparks/herland.html
8) Suppose that instead of writing Herland, Gilman chose to write a novel called Hisland, Hisland comprised of only men who were able to reproduce by wishing and their offspring were all male. How would this world be different than Herland? What characteristics do you think the men in this land would possess? What assumptions might three women discovering the land have of the men who live there?
9) The women of Herland state that they “made it [their] first business to train out, to breed out, when possible, the lowest types.” What do you think this statement says about the women of Herland’s assumptions about human nature? Do you agree with their view?
For Further Reference pertaining to Feminist thought:
De Beauvoir, Simon. The Second Sex. New York: Vintage, 1953
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper Vintage, 1892
Paglia, Camille. Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson. Vintage, 1991
Course Readings, Education 451, San Diego State University ASTE/NIETO
Munro, Alice. “Open Secrete” Short Stories.
Abbott, Philip, “Utopian Problem-Solving: ‘The Great Divorce’ and the Secssion Question,” Journal of Politics, Vol. 62 Issue 2, May 2000, p.511.
Bryant, Dorothy, The Kin of Ata Are Waiting for You. (New York: Moon Books, [1976] 1971. Note(s): “Formerly published as The Comforter.”
Elgin, Suzette Haden, Native Tongue. (New York: DAW Books, 1984).
French, Marilyn, The Women’s Room. (New York: Summit Books, 1977).
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, With Her in Ourland. (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1997).
Hooks, Bell, Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. (Cambridge, MA.: South End Press, 2000).
Piercy, Marge, Woman on the Edge of Time. (New York: Knopf, 1976).
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