A Marxist Criticism of Herland: Herland Versus Our Land
In Gilman’s novel entitled Herland “three modern American men” (Gilman 121) embark on an expedition only to find themselves drawn into a feminist-socialist utopia of which they struggle to comprehend. They find themselves unable make sense of this land run solely by women until they finally reach the realization that through the abandonment of masculine characteristics these “savage” women have created a society superior to their western counterparts filled with an unmatched level of peace and prosperity. Thus illuminating Gilman's belief that it is only through a feminist-socialist society that true progress can be made, whether that be through the elimination of sexist ideology, or by …show more content…
To these women “ the country was a unit--it was theirs. They themselves were a unit, a conscious group; they thought in terms of the community” (Gilman 79). The citizens of Herland unlike capitalist nations are willing to look beyond the scope of their own lives because of this sense of community and focus not on the improvement of themselves and their current station, but instead on the improvement of society as a whole and providing the best possible future for their daughters and granddaughters. As literary critique Lathrop states “Herland describes a socialist utopia of co-operation, industriousness, and community”(Lathrop, 2006). The seemly socialist state of Herland as Lathrop suggests utilizes their sense of community and motherhood to create an environment where progress is no longer hindered by the individualistic desires, but instead bolstered by a level of cooperation unseen in any other nation in the world, a socialist …show more content…
Through Herland, the reader can put themselves, as products of the same capitalist society as the explorers, in the shoes of those three men and see with freshly opened eyes the flaws of their own societal system. The Darwinistic economic belief that America has fosters, poverty and struggle that even the three men are ashamed of rather than peace and prosperity that every women in Herland thrives in. Through the analysis of the marxist nature of Herland it is illuminated that Gilman although she lived and wrote within a capitalist nation, understood the imperfections of the current system and idealized the and embraced socialist ideology in the hopes that under such a system women would finally be freed from the oppression that it
In Gilman’s novel entitled Herland “three modern American men” (Gilman 121) embark on an expedition only to find themselves drawn into a feminist-socialist utopia of which they struggle to comprehend. They find themselves unable make sense of this land run solely by women until they finally reach the realization that through the abandonment of masculine characteristics these “savage” women have created a society superior to their western counterparts filled with an unmatched level of peace and prosperity. Thus illuminating Gilman's belief that it is only through a feminist-socialist society that true progress can be made, whether that be through the elimination of sexist ideology, or by …show more content…
To these women “ the country was a unit--it was theirs. They themselves were a unit, a conscious group; they thought in terms of the community” (Gilman 79). The citizens of Herland unlike capitalist nations are willing to look beyond the scope of their own lives because of this sense of community and focus not on the improvement of themselves and their current station, but instead on the improvement of society as a whole and providing the best possible future for their daughters and granddaughters. As literary critique Lathrop states “Herland describes a socialist utopia of co-operation, industriousness, and community”(Lathrop, 2006). The seemly socialist state of Herland as Lathrop suggests utilizes their sense of community and motherhood to create an environment where progress is no longer hindered by the individualistic desires, but instead bolstered by a level of cooperation unseen in any other nation in the world, a socialist …show more content…
Through Herland, the reader can put themselves, as products of the same capitalist society as the explorers, in the shoes of those three men and see with freshly opened eyes the flaws of their own societal system. The Darwinistic economic belief that America has fosters, poverty and struggle that even the three men are ashamed of rather than peace and prosperity that every women in Herland thrives in. Through the analysis of the marxist nature of Herland it is illuminated that Gilman although she lived and wrote within a capitalist nation, understood the imperfections of the current system and idealized the and embraced socialist ideology in the hopes that under such a system women would finally be freed from the oppression that it