Herland

Synopsis

Herland is a utopian fiction novel written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, an American author remembered for her works on feminism. Her numerous literary contributions in the form of novels, short stories, poems and plays include The Yellow Wallpaper, The Man-Made World, Three Women, The Crux, and the Trilogy of Utopian fiction comprises of Moving the Mountain, Herland, and With Her in Ourland.

Vandyk "Van" Jennings, Terry O. Nicholson and Jeff Margrave are students of sociology, planned to explore a rumored society consisting of only women. All three have different views on women; Jeff views them to be served and protected; Terry views them to be conquered and won. They travel by a biplane and as soon as they had landed in a forest near the land, three women witness and had been chased by them. The women outrun them and reach residential area. The three men were captured by other women, with a fight which were overpowered by them with their strong physique and unafraid nature.

They had been kept as captive in a fortress-like building, but treated with comfortable living conditions and were assigned with a teacher to teach the men about their language. In the preceding incidents the women reveal them about the Herland. About 2000 years back, a volcano erupt killed many men and the land was isolated from the rest of the world. Few men who were slaves were survived but had been killed by other women. Only one woman survived finally, she was pregnant and gave birth to five female children; five children after reaching their puberty gave birth to five female children each via a process called parthenogenesis.

In the final chapters Vandyk, Terry and Jeff get married to three women, however the women were not able to understand the women hood. Terry in frustration tried to rape his wife but defended by other women and anesthetized. Finally they were allowed to go back with a commitment of not revealing about Herland to the outside world.

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