Herland Story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman: the Social Infrastructure of Herland - Essay Example

 Herland was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It is a land where its habitants are only females; girls and women. This s the story of the adventures of Vandyck, Terry and Jeff who have ventured into Herland. This essay explores the changes that I would like to see implemented in Herland. I would like to change the language of Herland. The women cannot speak English or a language the boys can understand. They used their quantities to hem the boys in and forced them to walk to a destination. The narration says; ‘Again they motioned us to advance, standing so packed about the door that there remained but the one straight path open. All around us and behind they were massed solidly--there was simply nothing to do but go forward--or fight.’ (Gilman 23). Language is a part of culture. If the culture of Herland can be changed, it is preferred that a common bond of language can make the women understood by the rest of the world. The women are eager to teach the young men their language and in turn learn the English language. They desire to learn about the world outside theirs and need to master the English language before they can understand and communicate with the men. Indeed, in the later part of the story, the three tutors minding the men are proficient enough to converse and learn about the men’s culture. The story’s narrator Vandyck says that; ‘I wish I could represent the kind, quiet, steady, ingenious way they questioned us. It was not just curiosity--they weren't a bit more curious about us than we were about them, if as much. But they were bent on understanding our kind of civilization, and their lines of interrogation would gradually surround us and drive us in till we found ourselves up against some admissions we did not want to make.’ (Gilman 46). For instance, the females in Herland are all vegetarians because they claim that they lack land to rear domestic animals for meat. They are quite shocked at the commentaries from the men about rearing cows for milk and meat. They have learned many new facts by using a new language, English, to communicate with the men. The single sex culture of Herland makes women ‘parthenogenetic women, founding a new race’. (Gilman 52). All the children are daughters. Since a woman gives birth to her daughter bearing her sole genetic makeup, there is a risk of mutation or abnormality. The narrator says that; ‘Here you have human beings, unquestionably, but what we were slow in understanding was how these ultra-women, inheriting only from women, had eliminated not only certain masculine characteristics, which of course we did not look for, but so much of what we had always thought essentially feminine.’ (Gilman 52). The men are of the opinion that the females have very short hair and do not look feminine. The narrator says that; ’This led me very promptly to the conviction that those "feminine charms" we are so fond of are not feminine at all, but mere reflected masculinity- developed to please us because they had to please us, and in no way essential to the real fulfillment of their great process.’ (Gilman 53). The narrator maybe correct or there might be a evolution or mutation in the genetic composition because of the closed self-breeding in the race. Clearly this kind of self-reproduction is not entirely ideal. Due to these risks of self-reproduction, I would like to see changes in the reproductive method of the females in Herland because as the new race of parthenogenetic women grew, each generation refines its lack of feminine traits and these men see the results after two thousand years. The story tells us that Herland’s girls and women have a culture that makes them tolerant. They are never irritable. The females lack the trait of irritability; ‘They had the evenest tempers, the most perfect patience and good nature--one of the things most impressive about them all was the absence of irritability.’ (Gilman 43). This is good when the whole community is amiable but becomes a weakness that can be taken advantage of by unscrupulous people. I should think that this culture of over-tolerance should be changed. The men expect to be punished or ill treated after their attempted escape from their imprisonment. They are surprised that the women do not do anything negative towards them and treat them as well as before. For every action, there is a reaction and when there is none, the wronged do not have any channels of addressing their grief. The women do not complain and have no indication of knowing when the limits are exceeded. The culture of being tolerant is exploited. There is a population control problem in Herland. The land is limited and if the population is to self-multiply by five after every thirty years, the limited land will not support the population. (Gilman 61). The wise women decided to stop reproducing more females. They will face the problem of an aging population of elderly women without younger girls or women to help them. Clearly, the real problem behind this population control is the scarcity of land to sustain the population. I would like to see more intensive agriculture methods, or crops that mature faster and give more productive cycles in shorter periods of time. This might be sufficient to feed the increasing population. The quantities of female population need efficient housing. I suggest space conservation in having stacked housing like apartments in high rise buildings. Although population control by curbing the reproduction is good, there should be a measure that calculates the rate of replacement that is necessary for the continuation of the race in Herland. In Herland, the descendants are separated from their natural mothers. The babies are separated from their natural mothers and brought up by selected educationists. (Gilman 73). The narrator thinks that this is wrong. I would like to see this aspect of the culture changed. Every mother would like to nurture and care for her own child instead of giving it up to the state to administer. It dehumanizes the experience of motherhood. The daughters are not identified with their mothers because they are given new names and do not take their mother’s names as a surname. The narrator attributes this as a fault of having no pride; ‘The element of personal pride seemed strangely lacking.’ (Gilman 67). The women tutors explain that they keep records of the mother-daughter relationships but what happens if the records are destroyed or lost? How would one ascertain which daughter belongs to which mother in Herland’s population of three million? I would change this aspect of Herland’s culture and introduce a system of naming to identify the relationships of daughter, mother and grandmother. In the event of illness caused by some flaw in the genetic composition, information on the lineage is essential to trace and notify the descendants and maybe take measures to help deal with the foreseeable problem. Although the women have said that they studied, experimented and nurtured their race to be disease-free, still one cannot forget the theory of evolution. Anything can happen anytime to upset the established equilibrium. Just like the unexpected event of the three young men coming into Herland by an airship. If the mother and daughter live together, it would be easier to notice the changes and intercept them before more efforts are required to address the issue. I would like to re-introduce bi-sexual reproduction in Herland. The story says that the men face many problems in their courtship of the younger women or girls because the females are not feminine. The narrator says; ‘There was no sex-feeling to appeal to, or practically none.’ (Gilman 80). This is a negative trait that is nurtured inevitably after two thousand years of selective self-motherhood. I would like to change the rigid social structure of Herland. The culture is strict. The females have no resources for social entertainment. While it is good that they have no drinking and smoking, the perfect place becomes a little too sanitized and boring for the men. When the men discuss this with the women tutors, Ellador says; ‘"We are only half a people. We have our woman-ways and they have their man-ways and their both-ways. We have worked out a system of living which is, of course, limited. They (men) must have a broader, richer, better one. I should like to see it."’ (Gilman 85). Entertainment is for the benefit of stress relieve and relaxes the mind. The females in Herland do not have need for entertainment because they live in a stress-free environment. However, there is a looming risk that such sterile boredom might cause degeneration of the mind. Vandyck notes that; ‘There was a most impressive array of pageantry, of processions, a sort of grand ritual, with their arts and their religion broadly blended.’ (Gilman 87). More forms of healthy entertainment like competitive sports, agriculture contests and others should be implemented to encourage the individuals for their personal sense of achievement and happiness. The mothers do not even have their own daughters to rear to participate in the personal joys of motherhood. There should be some interaction for the respective mother-daughter pairs. I think these changes will improve the social living conditions in Herland. I think the married women in Herland need marriage counseling and education before they consent to marriage. The constitution of marriage and personal space poses problems for Terry and Alima, Jeff and Celis, Vandyck and Ellador. The women of Herland do not understand the men’s desires for a house for a married couple. They simply cannot see the logic when they think that their way is good enough. Vandyke has underestimated Ellador’s strength of conviction. He finds it impossible to persuade this argument; ‘"We ARE alone, dear," Ellador explained to me with gentle patience. "We are alone in these great forests; we may go and eat in any little summer-house--just we two, or have a separate table anywhere--or even have a separate meal in our own rooms. How could we be aloner?"’ (Gilman 107). Another reason for sex and marriage education is revealed in Vandyke and Ellador’s discussion. Ellador does not understand why the man wants sex when it is off season for parenthood. She offers sympathies, suggestions, and comradeship but does not change her mind. The pressure eventually let off when Terry tried to force himself on his wife Alima but she took him to court. His sentence was expulsion from Herland. I would like to see this severe prosecution of domestic dispute changed in Herland. The forceful separation of the married couple is equivalent to a divorce. These troubles could have been avoided if before marriage, there was sufficient preparation on what both the female and male expected in a married state. Gilman has carefully plotted her novel to show the three possible outcomes from the marriages. Terry and Alima are separated. Jeff and Celis remain in wedded bliss and are expecting a baby from their new parenthood. Vandyck and Ellador will accompany Terry back into the outside world. Jeff is proof that a man can become adapted into a naturalized citizen of Herland without changes. My suggestions for changes might benefit people like Terry, who cannot accommodate to the social infrastructure of Herland. Works Cited. Project Gutenberg. Herland By Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The Project Gutenberg EBook of Herland, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. 2000. Project Gutenberg. 2 Apr. 2007. < http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext92/hrlnd10.txt > . Read More