Herland Blog 3

     In Herland, by Charlotte Gilman Perkins, a society of just women that have achieved what no other society has, which is the total elimination of poverty in their community. Van sees that the women's careful planning has brought to them the support of their people by the Earth. The women shaped their lives and compromised so that everyone had enough to eat, and became vegans out of necessity. The Herlanders started projects that would affect the future of the society for hundreds of years. For example, one of the projects took nearly a millennia to be completed. “In the case of one tree, in which they took especial pride, it had originally no fruit at all--that is none humanly edible--yet was so beautiful that they wished to keep it, For nine hundred years they had experimented, and now showed us this particularly lovely graceful tree, with a profuse crop of nutritious seeds” (Gilman 67). This shows that the women of this community cared for nature around them and were able to see the fruit that the Earth could give them.
     Throughout Gilman's book, it is seen that Gilman disagreed with the basics of American society during this time period. The ideas of Herland's foundation were often opposite of the American systems and organization. Gilman has breaks down the stereotypes of American men with the change of the intolerant ideas of the visitors to the solely feminine paradise. Gilman reveals the flaws in the accepted life in America, and indicates that perhaps the world would indeed be a gentler, more successful and flourishing place if women held power over it instead of men. She shows this idea by creating the community that has been able to survive for many, many years without the influence of men in any aspect of their society.

Herland Blog 2

     Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in her book Herland, depicts a community that consists of only women that has succeeded for many years without the requirement of men. In this community of women, Gilman portrays a sense of rationalism among the women and their society. Because Herland is isolated from other communities and the members have an extreme codependence of each other, the people of Herland are willing to put the needs of the community as a whole ahead of one member. Herland’s organization differs from that of a place with government managing business, industry, and economic activity for the people because it is organized more like a family.Every member of this community shares the idea that hard work and sacrifice benefit not just one person but the entire group and reward is shared by all people in the community. Therefore Herland is a rationalized society that is able to work peacefully and also able to reach the most rational decisions about problems inside the community. 

     Perhaps the most striking example of Herland’s rational society is the way the women calmly embrace the population controls needed to keep the population on their isolated plateau. Although many of the women would prefer to have multiple children, they are limited to just one, and some are forbidden to reproduce at all so that bad qualities may be “bred out” of the population. This idea has influence from natural selection, which was and still is a popular scientific theory about the survival of the fittest in society. Van is struck by the simplicity of this solution and by the shared sacrifice required of all of the women to make it work. Van comes to see his own society as simply an collection of individuals, each in competition with the other, and dependent on the oppression of the female half of the population. Gilman argues that disease, crime, war, pollution, and poverty, all unknown in Herland, would be conquered if they were viewed as issues for the whole society to tackle and if society had the power to remake itself along the most rational lines. Gilman uses the rationalistic ideas in Herland as a way to show the men, particularly Van, the cooperation that is found with rational and logical rules.

Herland Blog 1

          Herland, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a story of three men that travel and find a land named Herland that consists of only women. The three men are introduced as Van, Jeff, and Terry. Gilman, in her book, challenges the views of men, not only white Americans but other races too. These views are pessimistic to women in general and limit women during the time period to the domestic sphere as opposed to the approved sphere for men, which was the social sphere. Men of the time period most commonly viewed women as inferior to males, which affected every part of their treatment of women. They stereotypically believed that women were just objects that men control and possess. Gilman challenges these views by creating a society of only women that is able to function and prosper without men.
         In chapter 2, the three men first encounter the women of Herland and describe them as women that, "were not young. They were not old. They were not, in the girl sense, beautiful. They were not in the least ferocious. . . I had the funniest feeling of being hopelessly in the wrong that I had so often felt in early youth when my short legs' utmost effort failed to overcome the fact that I was late to school" (Gilman 16-17). In this passage the men, particularly Van, find that these women are considerably different than any others they have encountered before. therefore the men develop, along with previous opinions, separate views about the the women they meet. Van, through his actions and thoughts, is a man that does not particularly discriminate against women, but more rather just goes along with the designated guidelines for men and women of the time to follow. Jeff's perspective is different from Van's about women because he views them not as just possessions but feels romantic and poetic towards them. He believes he can win any woman he wants and have her be "his". But the most dramatic views of the women comes from Terry because of his aggressive and forceful behavior towards women. He sees women as game to be hunted and objects for sexual gratification. He does not think much of women when it comes to being apart of the social world. Gilman uses these three different views about the women of the period and in Herland to represent the different opinions men hold against women all around the world.