Essay on Herland as a Feminist Work

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, feminism is defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism is a major part of the short story, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, which is a story that portrays women’s lack of freedom in the1800s. Women had no rights, and had to cater to all of their husband’s needs. The main character in “The Story of an Hour” is a woman who suffers from heart trouble, named Mrs. Mallard. When Mrs. Mallard was told about her husband’s death, she was initially emotional, but because of her husband’s death she reaped freedom and became swept away with joy. The story is ironic because Mrs. Mallard learns her husband was not dead, and instead of exulting

Feminists at this time had a feeling of empowerment with a selfish attitude putting their needs over everything else. In Document A Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique is a strong example of this. It states “ once she begins to see through the delusions of the feminine mystique and realizes her husband nor her children, nor the things in her house, nor sex, nor being like all the other women, can give her a self-she often finds the solution much easier than she anticipated.” Feminists believed their roles as wives and mothers were not enough and “unfulfilling” and they deserved more. This idea also threatened American democracy and put pressure on the American Government. In Document F the percentage of Women’s jobs are shown, “75% of Women are in routine clerical, sales, or factory jobs or they are household workers, cleaning women” and also “There is no civil rights movement to speak for Women, as there has been for Negroes and other victims of discrimination, The National Organization for Women must therefore begin to speak.” Feminists believed they needed to put pressure on the Government like the African Americans did to get what they

Being that the majority of the characters in the novel are male, as the reader, you might not quit grasp the concept of feminism right away. Feminism is widespread throughout the story and gradually portrays a clear image of what life was like for women. Some women go along with the concept by obeying and others go against it and live their own way. This, in so many ways, allows for understanding of the life of women during this time.

These books look at each gender on an entirely different level of each other. The roles they fill are completely different. Socially they are held to different standards. I found this to be something that stuck out to me while reading this story. Women are looked at as property that switches from the fathers to the husbands in marriage. Likewise women seem to feel the need to have a man in their presence. These situations are throughout the story.

When beginning to categorize the social issue of feminism, it is a sensitive topic that must be inclusive of all genders. The modern term of ‘feminism’ is defined as giving both men and women the same rights and privileges as each other. Basic human rights would give others the notion that this is how all humans should have been treated from the beginning. However, this is far from the truth. Books like The Awakening, give us an inside look at how women were treated around 100 years ago. When Kate Chopin wrote The Awakening, she created a blueprint for how we see modern feminism. Without being obvious, Chopin showed how one woman started to liberate herself from an oppressive society.

Herland is a representation of what women strived for; equality. Women were often too busy living up to the standards of men to live up to their full potential as a human. Men often mistreated women as they assumed that they were better than women. Herland is a place where women live to their full potential and live in harmony together in the absence of men.

From a feminist perspective, the way women are presented in this story is offensive. Feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. In the story Women are not socially equal to men. The image portrayed of women in this story is is nothing like the women of today.

Feminists have fought for equality between men and women. They have raised awareness for all those women being degraded not only by society but by their families because everyone believes that it is the right thing to do, they did not know any other way and it took strong, independent women to open the eyes of society. Authors such as Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman communicated the struggle women went through and the agony they had to live with knowing that they were no one to society but a birth giver and a person to keep a man company and make him look good to society. The authors protagonists have rebelled and challenged the roles given to them in hopes to free themselves from the chains no one realized were there. Those chains were influenced by many things, but the most significant one being the social status men had to hold and the importance of caring what people had to say. Men had to ‘form’ their wives into women acceptable for society. This lead to women violating social laws and breaking everything they were ever told to do. In the end women till this day fight for equality in hopes to one day end patriarchy as a

Feminism is defined as range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goal: to define ,establish, and achieve political, economic ,personal and social rights for women. In the story “ The Lottery” by examining the female characters , it is apparent that women are treated differently than men; resulting in oppression, discrimination and frustration .Throughout the story women are considered subordinate, inferior and obedient to their husband ,even to their sons. At some point they are stereotyped as immature; furthermore, it is illustrates that women should stayed at home. They are not entitled to activities other than to take care of the household, the children and the husbands.

She explains that “Feminism is not about burning bras and hating men. It’s about gender equality” (Dockterman 104). Feminism is strong women standing up for their rights and ability to strive in a man’s world enough for it to become our world – a world where both men and woman strive to better humankind not mankind. It proves that women can be intelligent and strong,

The novel Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is about three men that discover a faraway land inhabited only by females. The novel itself is extremely progressive, and is a staple of the women's suffrage movement that occurred in the early 1900s. Although this work touches upon many controversies regarding gender inequality during that period, the primary issue touched upon is the idea that the idea "gender" in and of itself is a social construct, and sexes should not have to feel pressured to conform to the stereotypes associated with a particular gender.

The story of Herland depicts mostly about feminism, feminism is the advocating rights of women to gain equality to men. Herland is about a society that is made up of entire women and the need for male counterpart is not necessary. The story is narrated through the eyes of a male narrator Von, Jeff and Terry. Three different points of view were given about how women should be treated. During reading the novel it was seen that Herland uses the stereotypes of females and used it to their advantages where they depict all females willing and able to complete the task that modern society would see fit for a male. The women in the novel clothing were not provocative however, it was built to convenient to their daily life and also for comfort. They did not show any flirtatious tendency, and the need of male in any shape or form was never necessary for them. They were mostly mothers, builders and, farmers. The women lived together peacefully without caring about gender biases in the world.

Writer Ngozi Adichie says a feminist is a “person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes,” meaning both sexes are treated equally. “Cinderella” does not portray women as equal to men, rather it suggests that a woman’s value highly depends on a man and teaches girls to become patient victims. For instance, it places attention on a woman’s chastity, beauty, passiveness, as the story accepts abuse, discourages powerful women, and insists on a double standard.

Feminist theory analyzes the gender inequality that women have faced throughout the years due to a patriarchal society. Women were expected to fit the traditional female and conform to the gender norms that society has constructed. According to A Brief Introduction to Critical Theory, “Feminism embodies a way of reading that investigates the text’s investment in or reaction to the patriarchal power structures that have dominated Western culture” (227). Patriarchal power has oppressed women economically, socially, and politically. Women were associated more with domesticity than with politics and financial situations. They were not provided the same educational opportunities as men. These issues have been addressed by people, such as Mary

Feminism can be used to critique this short story because it is about women not having equal rights as men, like the princess in this story. In this short story the princess was locked away and had to have a prince fight to get her. After the prince got to the castle, he said, “‘Look, my bride, now I have won you!... ‘Look, everything I have fought for, now I have won it!”(639