Female and male solidarity in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 'Herland': Myths deconstructed

Abstract

The article investigates the myths of female and male solidarity as they are presented and deconstructed in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1915 utopian novel Herland. A claim is made that the sisterhood and motherhood are at the ideological core of Herland, and due to the introduction of the male narrator to the novel, the clash of strikingly different opinions on solidarity is presented as the major source of tensions between the characters. The eutopian, single-sex land of Herland is characterized by strong fellowship between the inhabitants, which is the source of the profound successfulness and prosperity of the country. However, as the three male explorers cross the natural barrier hitherto protecting the female land against the threats of hostile patriarchal civilizations, they question the noncompetitive and supportive relations between the women, projecting onto them the expectations and stereotypical views they have acquired from their own world. For the travelers, the parthenogenetic model of reproduction and unified motherhood of Herland, along with the utter economic equality and the ability to sustain a highly developed civilization without men, are incomprehensible features of the female country, and as such they create a platform for dialogue about the traditional structures of societies. As the original male solidarity perishes with the progression of the novel, yet another myth on gendered solidarity is deconstructed.