College of
Business
Administration
College of
Business
Administration
Herland
Facilitated by: Ericka Jennings and Michael Lenguel
1. The teachers are surprised by the men's view of work and competition; that without competition there would be 'no stimulus to industry' (p. 60). The women's paradigm for work is expressed in their question to the men, "that with you no mother would work for her children without the stimulus of competition?" The men answer this by explaining that "the world's work was different."
Is this true now? Do you think that there would be no work without competition? What does this say about human nature? How realistic/idealistic is the women's view that people want to work without such stimulus?2. Do what they would, however, there soon came a time when they were confronted with the problem of the pressure of population in an acute form. There was really crowding, and with it, unavoidably, a decline in standards. (p. 68)
Will population control be an important issue in your utopia? If so, how will you address the problem?3. Van describes Herland's education as being conducted in "each step of the rich experience of living...that the things they learned were related" (p. 100). Is our Western educational system modeled on a similar concept? Are there educational systems and beliefs today that incorporate these thoughts? Is this underlying belief an essential element for building a "good society"?
The women of Herland believe that their educational system develops the faculties of "individual judgment and will;" does ours? Does our system prepare our people for citizenship as Herland's does?4. Oh, you blessed child, she said. Do you like chestnuts? Of course I like obernuts, and said so. It is our best food-nut you know. This is a female of the obernut moth, she told. They are almost gone. We have been trying to exterminate them for centuries. If you had not caught this one, it might have laid eggs enough to raise worms enough to destroy thousands of our nut trees-thousands of bushels of nuts, and make years and years of trouble for us. (p. 101)
Should the people of a good society live in harmony with nature, as the Real People in Mutant Message Down Under do, or control it for their betterment?5. On p. 117 Van and Ellador conclude a long discussion on the subject of immortality and Heaven. Van explains that Heaven is "Peace and Beauty and Comfort and Love-with God," to which Ellador responds:
"That's what we all want of course-Peace and Beauty, and Comfort and Love-with God! And Progress too, remember; Growth, always and always. That is what our religion teaches us to want to work for, and we do!"
"But that is here, [Van] said, only for this life on earth."
"Well? And do not you in your country, with your beautiful religion of love and service have it here, too-for this life-on earth?"
Do you seek to create a heaven on Earth or in the afterlife? How does this inform your actions? Do you believe a heaven on earth is possible?Supplementary Questions
6. Somel explains to Van that the marriage between the men and their 'girls' is more than the potential of dual parentage:
...it is Brotherhood. You are the rest of the world. You join us to our kind-to all the strange lands and peoples we have never seen. We hope to know them-to love and help them-and to learn of them" (p. 119)
Do we today feel a sense of Brotherhood? to anyone outside of our close community? Do our actions speak of such a belief? Could they? How would our world have to change to accommodate this? Is it only with distance that this sentiment can be realized?7. Their religion, you see, was maternal; and their ethics, based on the full perception of evolution, showed the principle of growth and the beauty of wise culture. They had no theory of the essential opposition of good and evil; life to them was growth; their pleasure was in growing, and their duty also. (p. 102)
Is it possible to envision a society that has no understanding of the concept of good and evil? Is growth a possible goal of a society? What gives meaning to the people in you society?8. Terry put it up to me, saying I was the sociologist, and I explained that the laws of nature require a struggle for existence, and that in the struggle the fittest survive, and the unfit perish. In our economic struggle, I continued, there was always plenty of opportunity for the fittest to reach the top, which they did, in great numbers, particularly in our country; that where there was severe economic pressure the lowest classes of course felt it the worst, and that among the poorest of all the women were driven into the labor market by necessity. (p. 63)
Is this a true account of the laws of nature? What defines the fittest in our economic system?9. We saw some kind of swift-moving vehicles the first day, Jeff reminded us. If they've got motors, they are civilized. (p. 29)
Is technology an important aspect of a utopia? What role should technology play in a good society?10. Van eventually realizes that the words "men, man, manly, manhood and all the other masculine derivatives" describes for him and his society "the world" while women describes female-the sex. For the women of Herland the opposite is true. Through his time there, Van comes to see the women of Herland "not as females but as people; people of all sorts, doing every kind of work" (p. 137).
What do these words/names mean to you? When you use the words "men, man, manly, manhood and all the other masculine derivatives" are you describing all people? How does this alienate women from their participation in "all people"? Does it express a devaluing of women in our society? What other words could be used to describe all people inclusively? Does it matter?11. The women of Herland believe that outside civilization must be "wonderful...supremely beautiful" (p. 85). How much of their view is based on idealizing the outside world and their ancient heritage? Why do the men protect the women from the realities of their world?
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